Absorbing eligible pupils

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday May 5, 2025 06:00

If somehow the participation of government in the provision of reception classes has resulted in the emasculation of the private sector, this outcome was accidental rather than planned .It was an attempt predicated upon a desire to cater for the poor children whose parents could not afford paying school fees at private schools.

The idea of having government sponsored reception classes was a bold and ambitious development considering the challenge of resource constraints, which plagued public schools. Already public schools from primary to secondary schools were battling with clearing a backlog of classrooms and provision of adequate of critical teaching and learning inputs. To compound the situation, there was no budget provision to replicate the private sector’s model of establishing stand-alone kindergarten schools.

The costs of doing it the private sector’s way was going to be prohibitive and unbearable to carry. A different cost effective and more convenient model was adopted. This took the form of either converting, adapting and equipping surplus classrooms in some primary schools into reception classes or alternatively mobilising resources within government and outside to construct one or two additional classrooms to accommodate eligible children. Like any other new project, there were teething challenges, which accompanied the noble yet humble reception programme.

At its inception, there were not enough trained and qualified reception teachers. Suddenly, opportunities for reception teachers expanded and in response to the dictates of demand and supply private and public tertiary institutions sprang into action to train and feed the government schools and the private schools with teachers required. Appointments in government were frantically made on a first come basis until all the existing opportunities were exhausted. It seems the country is at a stage where there is a bit of over production of reception class teachers. Some of them, holding the right qualifications, have now sadly joined the ranks of the unemployed. From the supply side, it would appear training is continuing despite the fact that opportunities are now shrinking.

However, this is not a bad thing because the journey to absorb more students continues to gather momentum. Even private schools are mushrooming in a bid to expand opportunities to pre-primary school education. Not every corner of the country has managed to absorb reception class students due to limited classroom space and other critical resources. This means that the country still has a long way in terms of fully addressing the issue of inclusivity, as there is still a proportion of students, eligible for pre-primary school education opportunities remaining unserved.

The hardest hit are children from less privileged backgrounds, mainly born and being raised in poverty-stricken and least developed remote areas. This is a gap, which should be closed urgently. All children regardless of their different geographical localities deserve access to kindergarten schools. No child should be left behind. From inception the government reception programme was intended to be a pro poor intervention, designed to equalise opportunities. The goal is yet to be fully accomplished.

Further and future interventions that would be made to absorb the missing students should be guided and driven by data.

There should be timely and accurate data showing how many eligible five-year-olds, for instance, are in school and how many are missing from school. There should be no guesswork in so far as the census of eligible students is concerned. Once the numbers are known, tracking of those missing could be accomplished with relative ease.

In the quest to embrace all children eligible for pre-primary school education, government should not go it alone. The pace at which reception classes have growing leaves much to be desired. The building of additional classrooms has been taking place at a snail’s pace. This is worrisome yet understandable given the country’s present precarious fiscuss position. But education cannot wait. The children should be in school and a radical solution should be explored as a matter of urgency.

Government should consider collaboration with the private sector and communities. After all the private sector is much more experienced in the provision of pre-primary education and therefore has unquestionable comparative advantage. Recognising the comparative advantage of the private sector when implementing the Education and Training Sector Improvement Plan (ETSIP), the Namibian government left provision of pre-primary education in the hands of the private sector and perhaps communities. ETSIP is an equivalent of our own Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP). The country should perhaps draw inspiration from the Namibian example of giving space and autonomy to the private sector in this regard. The private sector can reach areas which government may not reach. Where government cannot directly provide reception classes, government should take responsibility for tuition to allow children from the disadvantaged backgrounds to enjoy their right to education without financial worries

There is also an urgent need to address issues of relevance and quality. President Duma Boko has already raised questions about the quality of education at the foundation level. Something urgent should be done to upgrade the service. Raising the quality of reception schools would require changing the supply side of teachers.

Teacher training schools should revise their curriculum and pedagogy to accommodate competency and skills development. There should be some semblance of balance between knowledge acquisition and skills development. At the preliminary stage of education and training, there is no need to get into the knowledge and skills trap.

All pursuits are equally important given the fact that knowledge is a raw material upon which skills can be developed. Again enlisting the support of the private sector is vitally important. The community too has an important role to play especially in the provision of infrastructure. There are too many churches and other community buildings that are seriously underutilised. Such buildings should be refurbished and equipped to serve as reception schools. Churches should be encouraged to establish reception classes to facilitate more absorption of students.

The very last important factor, which should be considered, is ensuring that children with special education needs are catered for. Presently they are seriously underserved or unserved.