Kunene forges education interventions

OPUWO – The Kunene education directorate plans to strengthen its learning support programme and encourage parental participation and involvement in order to improve their overall performance.

Speaking at a meeting with education minister Anna Nghipondoka to discuss regional improvement strategies in Opuwo, chief education officer for Programme Quality Assurance Petrus Shipalanga said they will accelerate the appointment of teachers and senior education officers, as well as request additional teachers to curb understaffing in schools.

The region further seeks to provide psychosocial support to needy learners, conduct assessments of learners with learning difficulties and refer them to relevant service providers, and set up and organise school libraries.

The region has set activities for each department in order to achieve these interventions.

“Some activities such as stakeholders’ consultative meetings, training on examiners’ reports and monitoring the implementation of examiners’reportrecommendations, training and induction of principals and Heads of Department had happened already. The training of school board members, conducting career guidance, and taking grade 12 learners to Rössing Foundation for experiments and practical activities in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Maths are yet to happen,” said Shipalanga.

“The analysis of results and performance dialogues at all levels, analysing of end-of-semester reports, and intensifying regular and focused visits to offer onsite support to assist in the teaching of NSSCO and NSSCAS levels are ongoing.”

On her part, Nghipondoka said regional performance improvement strategies should be sustained and be updated annually, with inputs from relevant stakeholders.

“I would like to emphasise that the regional performance improvement strategies are not a once-off exercise but should, from now on, be sustained and updated annually,” she added.