New school on the block

Located in the outskirts of Windhoek in the Babylon settlement, Mount-View High School prides itself in giving its learners excess time to study. Principal Brian Ndabeni says the school has adopted afternoon study sessions for learners to give them more time to study and revise what they have learned during normal school hours as a way to better the performance of the learners at the school.

“We have afternoon study sessions and extra classes to allow our learners to have adequate time to study and really grasp what they are taught,” said Ndabeni.

The principal also says the school employs other methods like distributing old question papers to learners, and teaching them how to appropriately answer questions in the examinations as another method to yield good academic performance at the end of the year.

Since the school is new, some of the challenges include not having enough classrooms, hence some learners at the school are taught in tent classrooms. “We do not have enough classrooms and some of our learners are taught in tents which is an inconvenience, but I am glad to say the situation has not affected the attendance of our learners,” he said. Ndabeni described Mount-View High School as the home of many learners - not just from Babylon settlement but the entire Khomas Region.

“The school was established to accommodate learners from the Khomas Region who could not secure placement at other schools, so we accommodate learners from different areas in the region,” said Ndabeni.

The school has 350 pupils and 15 teachers.

Another challenge that the school faces is the lack of parental involvement in the education of their children.

Ndabeni said that most of the parents have demanding jobs with long hours including working as security guards and domestic workers which makes it difficult for the parents to attend parent meetings.

“The turnout at parents' meeting is poor because on Saturdays when we normally call for parents' meetings this is the time when most of the parents get time to rest so they choose to not show up.”

Despite these challenges, one area which the school thrives in is the discipline of its learners. Each learner at Mount-View High School has been issued with the school rules and regulations booklet and the learners are told what is expected of them and the consequences that may arise if they violate those rules.

Like many schools, Mount-View High School has also vested power in the prefects of the school to maintain law and order at the school grounds.

Ndabeni said that other learners obey their leaders because they understand that disrespecting their prefects implies that they are disrespecting the office of the principal. “Our prefects operate on the mandate given to them by the school principal and the school management - not on their own - so it is important that they are obeyed and respected by their peers,” he said.

Ndabeni added that as the head of the school, the most important thing for him is to lead by example. “To lead by example I must be punctual and encourage my teachers to also be on time.” He went on to say that he encourages teachers to give their all because as a school Mount-View is striving for excellence in whatever the school does and the school can only achieve that if they are all committed and remain focused on achieving good academic results.

“We are not here for our own personal gains but here to benefit the Namibian child,” said Ndabeni.

Being a young school, Ndabeni admits that he feels the pressure to perform well academically because all eyes are on Mount-View High School, but he maintains that the school is ready to deliver.

“We have a vision for this school and the school management wants good results.

“We want to be among the best performing schools in the country,” he said.

Mount-View High School models for excellence