Free education under review
At a Central Committee meeting on Saturday, Swapo's bigwigs discussed the future and viability of continued free education in Namibia.
The issue of scrapping free education and reviving compulsory school fees was reportedly debated amongst senior Swapo officials during a central committee meeting on Saturday.
The subject was debated because government has become deeply concerned that voluntary parental contributions have slumped, despite difficult economic times that have led to education budget cuts.
Under the current financial year the ministry of education, arts and culture was allocated a total budget of N$11.9 billion, a 3% reduction from the previous year's budget of N$12.3 billion.
Education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa and Nahas Angula, who both attended the Swapo central committee meeting on Saturday where the issue was allegedly debated, would not comment or confirm the debate yesterday.
Angula told Namibian Sun he was not a Swapo spokesperson, and would not comment.
Hanse-Himarwa told Namibian Sun on Sunday that she was also not a spokesperson and could not discuss or confirm the topics that were debated at the meeting.
She however pointed out that reversing free education would not be constitutional and that despite compulsory school contributions until some years ago, education has been essentially free since independence.
She said access to free education “is a constitutional provision and if we wanted to reverse that, we would have to amend the constitution.”
She added that since independence “all along, the State has been carrying the costs of education and schooling of Namibian children” adding that if there were no free education, that would mean parents would have to pay for books, electricity, teacher salaries and other related costs of running a school.
In 2013, with the support of then education minister Abraham Iyambo, government implemented free universal primary education, where parents were no longer required to pay compulsory fees towards the school development fund.
After David Namwandi took over as education minister, he supported the call to implement free secondary education, which was green-lighted during former President Hifikepunye Pohamba's administration and became effective at the start of 2016.
While Namwandi would not comment on the alleged debate to reintroduce compulsory school fees, he told Namibian Sun over the weekend that if the plan goes ahead it would be “unfortunate”.
It was also reported that according to some committee members, instead of implementing compulsory school fees again, government should instead consider reducing costs by addressing a top heavy governmental and ministerial structure, which often duplicates mandates and wastes money.
Parents must take responsibility
On Sunday, Hanse-Himarwa emphasised that she has consistently advocated for increased voluntary parental support to education and would continue to urge parents to up their responsibility towards their children's education by funding schools their children attend.
She said “no parent must be compelled to pay, but they cannot just fold their hands and completely stop supporting government's efforts to educate their children.”
Earlier this year the ministry reportedly announced that they would consider reducing the free education budget, due to the economic situation facing the country.
The ministry explained that this would mean revising current school and learner subsidies.
In her recent state of education address, the minister said that of the N$11.9 billion education budget, 95% or N$11.4 of the total budget is for operation and current expenditure, with N$10.2 billion, or 85%, for personnel expenditure.
This leaves the ministry with only N$584 million, or 5% of the total budget, available for capital expenditure which she said meant the ministry “has been doing more with less.”
Yesterday, she reminded Namibian Sun that essentially education has been free since independence, and that before the introduction of 'free education' to secondary and primary schools, mandatory contributions to the school development fund did take into account what parents could afford and was set at a maximum ceiling of 10% of total cost of education for a child.
“The cost to the school fund was determined by the area the school was located in. In non-affluent areas, the fees were lower than in mid- or high-income areas.”
She added that these compulsory fees never covered all the costs, which government carried.
“No parent has ever carried the salaries of teachers, except in private schools. The state has been carrying the costs for utilities, stationary, everything, since independence; education has been free since then.”
She said scrapping free education would essentially mean government was handing over the reins of these payments entirely to parents and communities, which she underlined, would never be the case.
She said going forward, government will continue to subsidise education “but parents are called upon, as I always do, to take up the responsibility to support schools.”
She said parents should take equal responsibility for their child's education.
“We need parents to contribute a voluntary fee for one or the other activity; parents have to be able to take up that responsibility.”
The ministry also this month launched the Friends of Education in Namibia Special Initiative (Fensi), in an effort to provide an ease way for parents, the public, and anyone willing and able to pledge various forms of support to the ministry.
The initiative is described as a “non-bureaucratic and red tape free education basket” that was the brain child of Hanse-Himarwa.
JANA-MARI SMITH
The subject was debated because government has become deeply concerned that voluntary parental contributions have slumped, despite difficult economic times that have led to education budget cuts.
Under the current financial year the ministry of education, arts and culture was allocated a total budget of N$11.9 billion, a 3% reduction from the previous year's budget of N$12.3 billion.
Education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa and Nahas Angula, who both attended the Swapo central committee meeting on Saturday where the issue was allegedly debated, would not comment or confirm the debate yesterday.
Angula told Namibian Sun he was not a Swapo spokesperson, and would not comment.
Hanse-Himarwa told Namibian Sun on Sunday that she was also not a spokesperson and could not discuss or confirm the topics that were debated at the meeting.
She however pointed out that reversing free education would not be constitutional and that despite compulsory school contributions until some years ago, education has been essentially free since independence.
She said access to free education “is a constitutional provision and if we wanted to reverse that, we would have to amend the constitution.”
She added that since independence “all along, the State has been carrying the costs of education and schooling of Namibian children” adding that if there were no free education, that would mean parents would have to pay for books, electricity, teacher salaries and other related costs of running a school.
In 2013, with the support of then education minister Abraham Iyambo, government implemented free universal primary education, where parents were no longer required to pay compulsory fees towards the school development fund.
After David Namwandi took over as education minister, he supported the call to implement free secondary education, which was green-lighted during former President Hifikepunye Pohamba's administration and became effective at the start of 2016.
While Namwandi would not comment on the alleged debate to reintroduce compulsory school fees, he told Namibian Sun over the weekend that if the plan goes ahead it would be “unfortunate”.
It was also reported that according to some committee members, instead of implementing compulsory school fees again, government should instead consider reducing costs by addressing a top heavy governmental and ministerial structure, which often duplicates mandates and wastes money.
Parents must take responsibility
On Sunday, Hanse-Himarwa emphasised that she has consistently advocated for increased voluntary parental support to education and would continue to urge parents to up their responsibility towards their children's education by funding schools their children attend.
She said “no parent must be compelled to pay, but they cannot just fold their hands and completely stop supporting government's efforts to educate their children.”
Earlier this year the ministry reportedly announced that they would consider reducing the free education budget, due to the economic situation facing the country.
The ministry explained that this would mean revising current school and learner subsidies.
In her recent state of education address, the minister said that of the N$11.9 billion education budget, 95% or N$11.4 of the total budget is for operation and current expenditure, with N$10.2 billion, or 85%, for personnel expenditure.
This leaves the ministry with only N$584 million, or 5% of the total budget, available for capital expenditure which she said meant the ministry “has been doing more with less.”
Yesterday, she reminded Namibian Sun that essentially education has been free since independence, and that before the introduction of 'free education' to secondary and primary schools, mandatory contributions to the school development fund did take into account what parents could afford and was set at a maximum ceiling of 10% of total cost of education for a child.
“The cost to the school fund was determined by the area the school was located in. In non-affluent areas, the fees were lower than in mid- or high-income areas.”
She added that these compulsory fees never covered all the costs, which government carried.
“No parent has ever carried the salaries of teachers, except in private schools. The state has been carrying the costs for utilities, stationary, everything, since independence; education has been free since then.”
She said scrapping free education would essentially mean government was handing over the reins of these payments entirely to parents and communities, which she underlined, would never be the case.
She said going forward, government will continue to subsidise education “but parents are called upon, as I always do, to take up the responsibility to support schools.”
She said parents should take equal responsibility for their child's education.
“We need parents to contribute a voluntary fee for one or the other activity; parents have to be able to take up that responsibility.”
The ministry also this month launched the Friends of Education in Namibia Special Initiative (Fensi), in an effort to provide an ease way for parents, the public, and anyone willing and able to pledge various forms of support to the ministry.
The initiative is described as a “non-bureaucratic and red tape free education basket” that was the brain child of Hanse-Himarwa.
JANA-MARI SMITH
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