Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Emma Theofelus has proposed that classrooms become digitalised to reduce the textbook budget.

Theofelus said this on Wednesday whilst contributing to the 2023/24 Appropriation Bill in the National Assembly (NA).

“Imagine if one could invest heavily in infrastructure, and more so in digitalising our classrooms, we would reduce the textbook budget by almost half and possibly make do with the existing teaching component to teach learners without heavily depending on the presence of a teacher in a classroom,” the Member of Parliament (MP) said.

This follows after the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture was allocated N.dollars 16.8 billion for the 2023/24 Financial Year and N.dollars 51.2 billion over the Mid-Term Expenditure Framework as announced by Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Iipumbu Shiimi, during the budget tabling in the NA in February.

More than N.dollars 200 million was allocated for the recruitment of additional teachers and more than N.dollars 570 million was availed in the development budget to cater for the construction and renovation of classrooms, as well as other education infrastructure such as hostels and offices.

Furthermore, the MP said, given the ever increasing wage bill, there are sectors that cannot be compromised on, and education is one of them.

“However, the current modus of simply refurbishing and recruiting without employing innovative ways to educate our children will not yield the results we seek,” she said.

Additionally, Theofelus said she is in support of the 2023/24 financial budget as she believes the budget has done well in attempting to balance economic growth and livelihoods.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency