New classrooms relief for Onduludiya learners

Located about 60km east of Eenhana Constituency, is a small rural area called Onduludiya village in the Epembe Constituency.

Onduludiya is no easy place to access as the 6km gravel road quickly turns into another 11 kilometres of bumpy quicksand that requires at least a four wheel drive vehicle and rally-like driving skills.

However, this has not stopped MTC Namibia in partnership with the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund to construct five classrooms to meet Government halfway.

Epembe Constituency is home to about 20 schools with electricity and water provision, however proper road access remains a challenge.

This forms part of the MTC Namibia Rural Schools project, which speaks on addressing the lack of classroom blocks that is faced by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture.

Monday, Deputy Minister of Education Faustina Caley officially inaugurated the five classrooms here and storeroom facilities.

A Grade 8 learner, Julia Shonena, who foots from Oluungu village to Onduludiya for nearly 8km to attend classes every day, results to arriving exhausted and forced to bear the unconducive school environment.

Shonena indicated that she wakes up every morning at 06h00 to ensure that by 08h00 she is at school, to make it for her first lesson.

“This is luxury for us, that we have received new classrooms and we will have struggled with change of weather,” she said.

She added that during summer they suffer from heat, while in rainy seasons they suffered from rain whereby their books and bags are destroyed in the process.

According to her, for too long they suffered from a disadvantageous learning environment, and now they can smile as their hope has been restored.

Shonena stressed that they no longer need to worry about the rainy or hot days.

School principal Justine Shinana said that 65 per cent of learners travel 5km from nearby villages to access classes, and due to this ost of the time the learners arrive late.

“We have now made provision to give them extra classes to make up for the missed lessons,” she said.

Caley said education is a shared responsibility and is one of the long-term investments a country can make.

“So we need to rise together as a nation, working closely together and move forward to ensure that a Namibian child is educated,” said Caley.

Source: Namibia Press Agency