Ohangwena eases learner placing
The Ohangwena education directorate claims it has not experienced any challenges with regard to the placement of learners at senior level, following the phasing out of the old education curriculum.
With grade 12 having become optional, the education director in Ohangwena Isak Hamatwi said the region has upgraded 30 combined schools and as a result it now has 44 schools accommodating senior learners.
The region had previously only had 11 senior schools.
“The class groups have also been reduced,” said Hamatwi.
The only challenge now with placing learners is that not all pupils were placed at schools to which they applied.
Hamatwi said schools have done away with taking the best learners and instead now only take the required number from the list of those who have applied leaving out those below the list.
This he said has led to learners to be placed at other schools preferably not too far from where they are coming from, especially when a school does not have a hostel.
Hamatwi said space in hostels is limited and the region is forced to accommodate more learners than it is required in the hostels.
He stressed that many hostels are overcrowded because they take about 200 or 400 more learners than is required.
“Our hostels are overcrowded. It is against the policy, but we do it to have more of our learners in the hostel,” said Hamatwi.
On the complaint of the Etomba Combined School were grade 10 was removed for grade 11, Hamatwi said the decision is in line with the new curriculum as all grade 10s have been placed at senior schools.
Parents at the school argue that their children have now been placed at schools 25 kilometres away without parental supervision.
“We had to put up shacks to accommodate our children but now several have dropped out of school while others have fallen pregnant,” said one of the parents Penda Kasita.
Hamatwi said the distance is not factual, but he stressed that some schools do not have hostels hence they would need to seek for accommodation near their schools.