Aletta Shikololo

The Namibia National Students Organisation recently launched one of its flagship projects, ‘Access to basic education’ campaign, at the Dibasen Junior Secondary School in the Erongo region.

Established in 2020, the campaign is primarily aimed at addressing challenges affecting access to basic education, and comes with solutions that will ensure every Namibian child can have a place to learn.

Under this campaign, the students’ organisation particularly tackles issues such as lack of infrastructure and the quality outcomes of education.

In an interview with Youth Corner, Nanso’s acting president Gregory Madi said, unlike the previous years, this year they are also looking into specific challenges learners experience such as sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), teenage pregnancy, rape among many others.

“This year, we are looking into more social aspects. We also thought it is crucial to bring into this year’s campaign the career guidance aspect. We have seen many learners who have finished school without having an option of what they want to become or what to study at higher institutions,” said Madi.

He added that they have also sent out letters to various stakeholders to help curb infrastructure development challenges.

The organisation is also looking into helping build a school or classrooms at affected schools in the Omaheke region, which has been identified as one of the least developed regions in the country with regards to educational infrastructure.

“Omaheke region has about 54 schools and of those schools, only seven are secondary schools. So, through the ‘Access to basic education’ campaign, we are calling for either a school to be built or classrooms to be added at some secondary schools.”

“This year, we hope to impact as many learners as possible. Last year, we helped about 13 000 students and learners and we aim to grow that number. Our hope now is that every child should be admitted into school without being challenged in terms of resources.”

- ashikololo@nepc.com.na