European Union (EU) Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, told the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare (MGEPESW) on Tuesday that the Early Childhood Development (ECD) training for teachers is insufficient.
Urpilainen said this during her visit to the EU-funded ECD centre in the Mix settlement.
She urged the MGEPESW to invest in the educators, noting that the seven weeks training the ministry offers ECD teachers is not enough.
“The ministry needs to do more because if we want well qualified teachers, we need to train them more,” Urpilainen said.
Additionally, the commissioner said the EU will offer its support through the new budget support contract valued at N.dollars 1.1 billion dollars (60 million euros) to construct more classrooms, offer school fees support, organise more training to the teachers and increase the quality and quantity of educators.
Urpilainen plans to launch a regional teacher initiative on Thursday in South Africa purely for Sub-Saharan Africa valued at N.dollars 1.9 billion dollars (100 million Euros), aimed at assisting the region to train more teachers and also focus on the quality of the training.
In a speech delivered on her behalf, MGEPESW minister, Doreen Sioka, said the ministry spent N.dollars 1.5 million to construct the Mix settlement ECD centre, which occupies four educators and 57 pupils (33 girls and 24 boys).
She added that the ministry supported 2633 ECD centres with teaching and learning materials, as well as protective and preventative equipment to combat COVID-19. They additionally trained 304 ECD educators with their ECD in-service training curriculum.
Speaking at the same occasion, Khomas Governor, Laura McLeod-Katjirua, outlined issues community members face such as transport to the capital, high unemployment amongst residents and the poor service delivery from City of Windhoek, including the supply of electricity and water.
“The main challenge we have here is that it is difficult for parents to take their children to Windhoek for school, as they are unemployed and finances are scarce,” the Governor said.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
