About Namibian Schools

I had a request (though my response is long overdue...sorry!) to talk a little bit about the schools in Namibia. Now, some of this might be a repeat from earlier, but please bear with me... And one more disclaimer, this is just based on my experience in the past 10 weeks. I’ve only seen a few different schools in a few different towns so I can’t speak for all of Namibia.

First, the school year. The school year begins in January and is split up into trimesters. Next school year, for example, the first term will begin January 13 and end April 21, the second will be May 16 through August 25 and the final term will begin September 5 and end on December 9. (For those you planning on visiting, COUGH CMEJLA NOEL ANITA COUGH, please take note). If a child is 6 years old by January 1, he/she can begin grade 1. For most purposes, the grades are split into four different levels: lower primary (grades 1-4), upper primary (grades 5-7), junior secondary (grades 8-10) and senior secondary (grades 11-12).

The language of instruction in the lower primary phase varies from region to region within the country, depending on what that region’s mothertongue is. For example, in Okahandja, where I stayed for the first two months, the children were taught in Afrikaans because it was an urban environment with a mix of different home languages. The language makeup where I am now is much more homogeneous, however, so Oshindonga (a dialect of Oshiwambo) is taught in primary school. Once students enter the upper primary grades, the mode of instruction changes to English. This means that although students still take a class in their mothertongue (similar to how English is taught in American schools all the way from kindergarten to high school), the rest of their subjects (math, science, life skills, phy ed, etc) are taught in English. As you can imagine, it is quite a change to switch from being taught (and tested) almost exclusively in Oshindonga one year to almost exclusively in English the next.

Okay, next topic: the daily school schedule. I’ll give you my school’s schedule, but I should also let you know that from what I’ve seen, my school is an exception to the general rule. Most schools start around 7 AM, with a staff meet that begins anywhere from 6:40 to 6:50. My school, on the other hand, doesn’t have a staff meeting in the morning and classes begin at 8 AM. If there is morning assembly (which there occasionally is on Mondays and Fridays although I haven’t yet figured out the method behind the madness as to when exactly an assembly is required and when it isn’t), it begins around 7:45 (though the bell for the assembly begins ringing a good 15 minutes before it actually begins, which is another story in itself...). Basically, morning assembly means that the kids line up by grade in the school yard, sing the national anthem and the school anthem, listen to a scripture reading, a prayer and any announcements the principal or other teachers might have. Once the assembly is done, the students are dismissed to first period, which is probably already “technically” in progress. Okay, so now back to the original topic: the schedule. Classes begin at 8 AM and are 40 minutes long. There are four periods before the tea break, which begins at 10:40 and ends at 11:10, and four periods after the break. This means that classes end at 1:50. From 1:50 to 2:30 (approximately, again, I’m a bit unsure on the actual times) there is another break and then afternoon study begins and continues until 4 PM when the school day is officially over.

Alright, now that the technical stuff is out of the way, the more practical items. Time, as you know, is much more flexible in Nam than it is in the US. For example, although tea break ends at 11:10, kids (and teachers) generally don’t start going back into their classrooms until 11:20, 11:30, maybe 11:40, depending on the day.

Ah, yes, another very important thing to understand...upper primary/junior secondary students are often (meaning, on average, once a day) left unattended here. In the US, leaving your class (even to go to the bathroom) is basically a capital offense. Not so much in Nam. If a teacher is sick, talking to the principal or a parent, marking (translation: grading) papers, planning lessons, invigilating (translation: proctoring) a nation-wide standardized exam or (yes, it has happened) in town at the bank because it’s pay day, the students are left to fend for themselves. Yes, I must admit, as an American-trained teacher (and student) I was very shocked by this at first. But, before you go and start passing judgment, let me tell you some of the amazing things that I’ve observed about these unattended classes: the students stick around and (generally) they manage to make it through the period without injuring each other or breaking school property. Imagine if a group of American 9^th graders were left alone...after about 20 minutes, something would be vandalized and after about 30 minutes, half class would be walking around town, maybe headed to the nearest gas station to buy snacks. Am I completely off here?

This is getting quite long so I’ll cap this off with the system of promotion. Although I believe changes may be in the works (or things might have already been changed but have not yet filtered down?), students are only “allowed” to fail once per section. So, for example, Susie Student enters school and fails first grade. Susie then repeats grade one the next year but fails again. Since, however, a student can only fail once in grades 1-4, Susie is pushed on to grade 2 and then on to grade 3 (even if she fails grade 2). This same thing happens in the next section (grades 5-8). Once a student is in grade 10, this is where things really begin to count. In grade 10, if Susie gets enough “points” (based on grades in certain classes), she earns her Junior Secondary Certificate. After passing grade 10, Susie can apply begin grades 11-12 and, if her grades are good enough, she will be accepted. From grade 12 (after completion of the Senior Secondary Certificate), Susie can apply to attend a University. If Susie fails, she cannot retake grade 10 and does not earn her certificate. Her only choices, then, are to being working (usually on the family’s farm) or enroll in NamColl to begin work on what is basically a Nam equivalent of a GED.

One last thing before I sign off (I swear, this really is the last one), this system of passing/failing and other factors also leads to students of a wide range of ages being in the same grade. In grade 7, for example, the students might range in age from 12 to 19. Seriously! This also was quite a shock for me, coming from a school environment where student ages were very homogeneous.