ONGWEDIVA – Acting education director in Oshana Hilma Nuunyango-George said all the schools in the region are ready to commence with the new academic year amidst challenges posed by the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic. 
Nuunyango-George said schools were already requested last year to set up resilient plans to prepare for this year hence the readiness to commence with face-to-face learning. 

“Currently, there is no school that has indicated they are not ready to open,” Nuunyango-George said, citing all the schools were ready to start today. Nuunyango-George said detergents and sanitisers for the schools were already procured in December and the region will foresee they are distributed to the schools before it opens its doors for teaching and learning.
Following the postponement, grade 1 to 11 is expected to commence on 26 January 2021.

The acting director said most of the schools in the region have opted that their learners rotate days to attend schools.
This, the acting director said, will prevent overcrowdedness and ensure social distancing is adhered to and thereby mitigate the spread of Covid-19 within schools.

In order to support the learners who did not receive all the content as prescribed, the acting director said schools will also ensure such learners received the required educational support.
Meanwhile, Nuunyango-George said all grade 11 learners in the region and those who have applied to the region have all been placed. She stressed that not all the learners have been placed at the schools where they applied; however, they have been placed within the field of study for which they applied.

She said although some learners have applied to boarding schools, they could not be placed in the hostel, as the region does not have sufficient space in the hostels for all its learners.
- nashipala@nepc.com.na