Learners at Mantjenya Junior Primary School in the Kavango East Region have to make do with sitting on tree stumps, beer crates and baby chairs due to the critical shortage of chairs and desks at the school.
Others have to sit on top of desks because of the lack of chairs.
Village Development Committee member for education at the village, Phillip Matemwa who brought the matter to the fore, told Nampa in an interview on Sunday he is not happy with the situation at the school.
“Learners were asked to bring their own chairs from home after the school informed parents at a meeting early this year about the lack of chairs,” he said.
Matemwa said parents who do not have chairs at home thus gave tree stumps, beer crates or baby chairs to their children to sit on.
“I have a child at this school as well and mine sits on a beer crate. It is shameful and embarrassing for a government school to still be in situations like this, years after independence,” he said.
Matemwa said he would like to see a solution found to the problem that dates back as far as 2019.
The principal of the school, Herbert Diaz, said the problem gets worse every year as enrolment numbers also increase.
He said he is however proud that despite the situation, the school has an overall good performance of 76 per cent.
“We informed the education directorate through our circuit inspector, asking for assistance, but nothing has been done up to now,” Diaz said.
Ten-year-old Mbangu Andreas, who is in Grade 1, said his body and back hurt from sitting on the tree stump for long.
He said the tree stump is also too low to allow him to properly write on the desk, which requires him to stand when he has to write.
Director of Education in the region, Fanuel Kapapero, said a lack of chairs and desks is one of the biggest dilemmas the region faces.
He said in this financial year, N.dollars 5 million was already spent to address the shortage of chairs and desks.
“The problem is not confined to this school alone; we have several new schools that do not have furniture. Mantjenya JP should use the grant they get to repair old furniture,” Kapapero said.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
