Equitable access a myth in public schools

Access to education in Namibia remains impressive, but equitable quality access remains elusive. While most learners have access to education, the quality of the education available to them varies according to their socio-economic status, academic performance or geographic location.

For education to be truly equitable, it must offer high-quality learning opportunities to everyone. At a minimum, this means high-quality learning materials, high-quality instruction and high-quality support. Many schools, especially those in remote areas, struggle to attract qualified teachers. These schools continue to suffer from infrastructural deficiencies and quality learning resources (lack of laboratories, libraries) as well as internet connectivity. Many learners in these schools are taught in tents or those who are fortunate in kambashus (zinc classrooms), which is not safe nor conducive to learning, thus defeating the goal of quality.

In pursuit of access to education for all, government has introduced measures to grant all learners an opportunity to get admission at any public school by removing the mandatory payment of fees. The goal is to bridge socioeconomic gaps and quality access to education for all learners. But despite the effort, many learners continue to be denied admission at certain schools. It is imperative to acknowledge that education helps in establishing equality and ensuring equal access. But the system of education itself can add to the existing inequalities, or at least perpetuate the same if it is not well-managed. This narrative is true where equal access to all public schools are not a reality but a myth to some learners.

Equitable access means more than simply providing access, but giving every learner the opportunity to attend any school and removing barriers to access. Equitable access in this context means ensuring that everyone has fair and equal access to quality education. This means fair and equal access, regardless of learners’ socio-economic status, geographic location, cultural or political preferences, or any other factor that might deprive them of fair access to a high-quality learning experience. As part of giving everyone fair access to high-quality education, equitable access also means ensuring that everyone has a real and fair opportunity to take advantage of that access.

Ultimately, equitable access is about making sure that each learner has a fair opportunity to flourish both personally and professionally through education. At a societal level, empowering all learners in this way will lead to increased economic growth and stability, as well as stronger cultural and political foundations for successful families, communities and institutions. One has to applaud the government at various levels for taking several measures to make the principles of access to education a reality. However, several obstacles still stand against it, lending it not equitable. Some of these barriers and obstacles are the inadequate funding and unequal treatment of schools.

Inadequate funding

Due to inadequate funding and its late disbursement, many schools exploit the loop hole to demand payment in the name of voluntary parent contributions. Nothing is wrong with that, considering the high costs of running or maintaining a school. The concern is that some schools are demanding more from parents, making it difficult to enrol their children at those schools. Schools also use the voluntary contribution as reason to deny children from disadvantaged families to be admitted. Circular: For Ed: 1/2023 clearly states that no learner should be excluded in any form, rejected or left behind. It calls for regional directors through their respective circuit offices and schools to ensure that all eligible learners are admitted in schools. Despite the directive, the reality on the ground, especially at some schools, is frustrating parents whose children are denied admission due to not meeting the school needs. This exercise in away denies children to attend a school of their choice, rendering equitable access a myth. Parents and guardians are left frustrated, asking questions whether equitable access is for all learners and applicable to all public schools.

Treatment of schools

Due to preferential treatment by some regional education authorities, some schools have developed internal policies which are discriminatory, based on the academic performance of a child, and at times not aligned to existing policies. Some schools can admit learners they consider good, while others are forced to admit everyone. Due to these schools not admitting some learners based on the existing legislation and policies, we experience the yearly conundrum of learners who need spaces. Some of these learners are those refused at the favoured schools. The unequal treatment constitutes additional obstacles to equal access in the country. These favoured schools use their internal policies to bar some learners by coming up with a long list of needs (stationery, cash for photocopy reams, projects), making it difficult for unemployed and lowly-paid parents. They demand high fees and have restrictive admission rules, where only learners with good grades are admitted, sometimes even denying those from their feeder schools. Learners refused at the favoured schools are forced onto schools considered scrapyards, resulting in overcrowded classrooms at those schools. While the long list of demands is allowed at those favoured schools, the same is not allowed at schools not favoured. These schools are threatened to write reports if they dare to give stationery lists or refuse to admit learners. As we are seeking for solutions to address the dismal examination results, it is time to treat all public schools the same. Treating a few schools differently is affecting the national examination results since the majority of learners are from schools not favoured.

The way forward

If one day our education is to achieve equitable access in all public schools, the Education Act of 2001 and any related policy should be the guiding principle, and be enforced without favour in all schools. Also, all internal school policies should be aligned to the existing policies. These internal policies must be agreed by the majority of parents, and endorsed by the regional director. Adequate and timely disbursement of funds to schools remains critical too. Although equitable, quality access is an expensive undertaking, time has come to make a commitment to equity that requires measures designed to ensure that the most disadvantaged schools and learners have access to an education of the same quality as the least marginal is ed, if we one day dream of re ali sing equitable quality access

Finally, it is high time that the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture should come up with a way for the voluntary contributions to remain voluntary by developing a universal or regional policy, based on the context to put a ceiling on the amount parents can contribute