Cecilia Xavier

OPUWO – The Okapembambu Primary School will soon have proper classrooms, hostel facilities for both girls and boys and accommodation for teachers, thanks to the Pupkewitz Foundation. 
The first phase of the construction of two classroom blocks and accomodation for teachers is progressing well at the Kunene school. 

Construction work started in December last year and completion is slated for June this year.
It will cost the foundation N$2.5 million for the first phase.  The hostel and teachers’ accommodation facility will be constructed in the next financial year.
The whole exercise is estimated at N$10 million.

Okapembambu has about 421 learners, with pupils from pre-primary to grade seven and 16 teachers. 
“We have 240 learners accommodated in the hostel from different villages, but we accommodate those that are coming from far,” stated school board secretary Sikrioni Mbwale.

The school has many other challenges according to one of the local leaders Alexis Njandereeko Humu. 
 “Teaching aids are being destroyed by wind and rain because there are no proper structures to keep them.  Learners sleep in classrooms during the night and during the day it is a class. Teachers sleep in rooms made from mud,” she said.

Uakuatuomuni Mbinge, a grade seven learner at the school, said the poor conditions made learning 
difficult. 

*Cecilia Xavier works for the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in Opuwo, Kunene region.