//Kharas addresses contact lessons challenges
KEETMANSHOOP – The education directorate in the // Kharas region, with the help of stakeholders such as student leaders and line ministries, has executed a readiness assessment for the resumption of face-to-face teaching at schools offering grades 11 and 12 in the region.
Regional education director /Awebahe //Hoeseb said in a statement last week that a report compiled after the assessment indicated that the ablution facilities at some schools were not in compliance with the general public health, sanitation and national school safety standards as the cistern systems of some toilets were not functional or faulty due to tree roots blocking them.
Challenges experienced at schools, according to the statement, reflect that two of them have not established Covid-19 safety committees, whilst some others have no psycho-support plans in place.
//Hoeseb also explained that water taps at some schools were not functioning due to calcification or a build-up of calcium carbonate in the piping systems.
Another challenge was that not all schools have a sick bay on their premises.
Referring to the issue of the boys and girls’ hostels at Ernst Jagger Combined School that were ravaged by fires previously, the director raised concern in the report that they are facing a heavy challenge in terms of lack of accommodation for grade 11 learners as these lodging facilities are still not renovated.
The report continued that the fact that the government hostels of Lordsville Secondary School are undergoing a muchneeded refurbishment makes the accommodation challenge even more complicated.
The director said parents, guardians and or caregivers now have to secure private accommodation for their children for the remainder of the 2020 academic year with the return of learners other than grade 11s at the Karasburg Combined School where occupants of the two gutted hostels were accommodated before on a temporary basis.
Given that these stranded learners resort in the category
of poverty- stricken socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, these learners’ parents,guardiansandorcaregivers do not have the financial means to arrange private accommodation for their children.
The report furthermore detailed the total cost for re-assembling prefabricated structures and setting up buildings that will serve as temporary accommodation for the affected learners to an amount of N$1.09 million.
An amount of N$2.8 million was already provided by the education ministry earlier this year.
// Hoeseb also indicated that an amount of N$200 000 would still be needed in terms of the procurement of two more prefabricated structures and construction services for putting up hostel structures at Karasburg Primary School.