Free education is flawed – report

• By Kaipaherue Kandjii

A parliamentary report on the state of education in Namibia says the government negated its pledge to provide learning materials to schools after declaring free education.

In worst instances, schools even withhold report cards if parents fail to pay school levy, and a few have now resorted to demanding outrageous luxuries such as cleaning products, toilet paper, air fresheners and money from parents with threats of learners being left out of placement in parents fail to comply.

The 76-page report has unveiled the secret tools used by schools and has issued a stern warning against the government, saying the advent of free education in Namibia appears to be haunting the system with the frequent high failure rates and dropouts.

“The understanding of free education among the community is that the government should provide for all learning materials, including stationery.

However, the government no longer provides schools with paper.  “Schools are given a lump sum based on several learners. T

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