The forgotten knowledge-based economy of Namibia
EDUCATION is generally considered as a powerful tool in reducing poverty, enhancing economic growth, empowering people, improving private earnings, promoting a flexible and healthy environment and creating a competitive economy. It plays a vital role in shaping the way future generations cope with the complexities of economic growth. Moreover, education plays a vital role in shaping the way future generations cope with the complexities of economic growth, overnight technological changes, human and natural manifested crises, scarcity of resources and many others.
In June 2004, the Founding President Dr Sam Nuujoma launched his blueprint Namibia economic transformation plan Vision 2030. This plan presented how future Namibia should look like in the imagination of Namibians and placed human resources development at the centre of all developmental activities that will lead to the attainment of this vision. Like other developing countries, Namibia is faced with the choice of prioritising its social development needs instead of economic development. The proportion of national income devoted to education in Namibia is, therefore, one indication of national effort to education and a sign of political will behind that effort to a pedestrian. Unfortunately, in reality, more than 70% of the budget goes to the ever-ballooning personnel expenditure instead of education.
About seventeen (17) years later, after the launch of our beloved Vision 2030, we are still talking about an unemployment rate of more than 50% of mostly youth that is supposed to benefit from the implementation of Vision 2030 economic plans; lack of teaching and learning resources in schools; lack of facilities in schools; a huge gap between the quality of education offered by public and private sectors; ancient technology still in use and many more other burning issues.
Our education is still producing unproductive citizens, who still need at least three (3) years extra in addition to thirteen (13) years already spent in school to be regarded as somehow productive.
Those who complete tertiary education are required to have at least five (5) miraculous years of work experience by most economic sectors to join the job market, despite the lack of a functioning apprenticeship system in the country. I prefer referring to the work experience requirements as miraculous years because most of tertiary education graduates are young Namibian who just left school to further their studies.
Due to the lack of well-defined apprenticeship policy for young individuals to gain the so-called work experience, most youth end up home without work despite their tertiary education completion, which is supposed to guarantee them to work. This will have a strain on the economy since unemployment leads to poverty, which degrades the economy of a country. We can’t deny that Namibia has achieved a lot because of its education, but the facet to which it contributes to the economy of the country is still a rocket science that is yet to be discovered.
Lessons from other countries that used education as a tool for economic growth
Singapore: Singapore evolved from an economy based on port and warehousing activities, through a low-wage, labour-intensive manufacturing economy, and then to a more capital and skill-intensive industry – and finally, to its current focus on knowledge-intensive industrial clusters. How did they do it briefly?
1. The education system was expected to ramp up the quality of its education and the supply of specific skills needed to make Singapore globally competitive. 2. The government successfully managed supply and demand of education and skills that were required by the industries.
South Korea: South Koreans fought one of the cruellest and destructive wars in modern memory. Yet, after the war, since the 1960s, the government-led economic development plans have been directly reflected in education policy and planning. The government has been generally successful in providing and expanding the education system based on the human resource needs of the economy. How did they do it briefly?
1. The education system has developed in tandem with the various stages of economic development.
2. The focus of the government’s educational planning moved from primary to secondary education and finally to the tertiary level, according to the nation’s economic advancement. 3. The rapid expansion of education at all levels is the outstanding feature of Korean educational development during the country’s industrialisation.
What is required for Namibia to become a knowledge-based economy?
1. An economic incentive and institutional regime that provides good economic policies and institutions that permit efficient mobilisation and allocation of resources and stimulate creativity and incentives for the efficient creation, dissemination and use of existing knowledge. 2. Educated and skilled workers who can continuously upgrade and adapt their skills to efficiently create and use knowledge. 3. An effective innovation system of firms, research centres, universities, consultants and other organisations that can keep up with the knowledge revolution, tap into the growing stock of global knowledge and assimilate and adapt it to local needs.
4. A modern and adequate information infrastructure that can facilitate the effective communication, dissemination and processing of information and knowledge.
To this end, Namibia theoretically has one of the most well structured economic policies, but it lacks will and consistency in implementing them. Many of them are gathering dust in senior officials’ office cabinets. Those entrusted with the implementation of the policies are often excluded or given a minimal role when policies are formulated, leading to a mismatch of implementation. With the current political atmosphere of self-idolising politicians, we tend to fail with a huge gap, but who knows – as Dr Amupanda would say: “With the progressive forces in charge, we can fix our nation”; I guess it will be possible within the eight years that are left to our Vision 2030.
*Chiete Custodio teaches social sciences in the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture. This article is written in his personal capacity.