The president of the Students Representative Council of the International University of Management (IUM), Lloyd Sikeba admonished first year students of the institution to stay focused, remain disciplined, use their time wisely and not to forget the purpose of why they are at the institution.

The fourth year finance management student was speaking at the opening ceremony of the institution last week in the capital. “Your future is bright academically, physically, emotionally, mentally and so much more. Congratulations on reaching this point, your dream is becoming a reality,” said Sikeba to the students.

He reminded those in attendance their dreams will become a journey only when they have the power to run with it. “You either own it or leave it, and that will lead to you achieving your goal which is your valuable degree,” he stated.

Sikeba took the opportunity to applaud the senior students and wished them well. “I thank God that you are still here today, standing tall and strong for you to continue with your academic purpose because some people have not seen this year, but you are still pushing hard.”

He said 2020 is a new year for students to reflect on what they have missed, improve on what they have to do and pull all forces together and make it through the year. Sikeba took the opportunity to address issues that some students may have that seem to hinder their progress as far as education is concerned.

“Every problem has a solution. We live in a dynamic world and challenging that it might prompt you to give up, do not give up, keep fighting, keep studying, do not neglect your study. Furthermore, do not have a negative mindset due to the problems that you face- everything will be solved. In high school, we used to say when you get a 20 out of 20, it’s an excellent mark, so this year will be an excellent one since it is 2020,” praised Sikeba.

He said there has been a lot of GBV related cases and cases where students died and in some instances, killing themselves. “But I urge you- don’t give up. If you cannot run, walk, if you cannot walk crawl, but by doing so make sure you reach the finish line. For the next generation will ask you, what did you do when you had the opportunity?

First year education student, Helvi Andreas is keen to start her degree in senior primary education. “Although my focus in life was a venture into the media field, the dream now is to teach Oshindonga and Life Skills and the reason why I chose IUM is that they specialise in the field that I want to pursue now,” revealed Andreas to Youth Corner. 

Another newcomer to the tertiary level is Johannes Haindaka who chose IUM because they don’t require a lot of points. “The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the University of Namibia (Unam) won’t accept lower points but IUM is different. The institution encourages prospective students this way because this will mean they can eventually continue with their tertiary education and work on themselves,” believed Haindaka.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na