When the cost of learning becomes a barrier

CONCERNED TEACHER/PARENT WRITES:

Across our nation, education is often described as a gateway to opportunity. Yet for too many families, the basic cost of schooling has become an insurmountable barrier – turning what should be a right into a daily struggle.

Namibia’s unemployment challenges have left many households striving just to meet basic needs. With fewer than one in three working-age adults employed, parents and caregivers often juggle minimal-wage jobs while trying to support their children’s schooling.

In many communities, single mothers working long hours as domestic workers shoulder the burden of providing for their families with limited resources. Elsewhere, older children find themselves heading households, caring for siblings with little support. Every day becomes a testament to resilience – but the challenges persist.

At the start of each school year, families are presented with stationery lists that read like luxury wish lists. Learners are expected to bring an array of supplies – scribblers for every subject, pens, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, colouring pencils, photocopy paper and even toilet paper. These items, often taken for granted elsewhere, can cost between N$750 and N$1 400 per learner at primary level, depending on the school. Uniforms – another mandatory requirement – add further financial strain.

While most public schools do not charge tuition fees, these so-called “hidden costs” function as invisible barriers to education. The result? High dropout rates in early grades, especially Grade 1 – an alarming trend that not only diminishes hope for individual learners but limits the potential of our communities and nation.

The contrast becomes even starker when political leaders, whose decisions shape education policy, send their own children to well-resourced private schools – safe from the everyday struggles faced by the families they serve. This reality stirs urgent questions about empathy, equity and leadership.

Education is more than textbooks and uniforms. It is a promise – a commitment that every child, regardless of background, should have the chance to learn, grow and contribute. When children drop out because their families cannot afford pencils or paper, we all suffer a loss.

For the future of our children and the strength of our country, we must do better. Education should open doors, not close them.

Let us work together to ensure that every Namibian child can walk into a classroom with dignity, opportunity and hope.

* Beste lesers, keuring vir die publikasie van WhatsApp, briewe en alle ander lesersbydraes berus by Republikein. Klagtes oor die diens van private besighede word eers aan die onderneming vir reaksie voorgelê. Die menings van ons lesers en rubriekskrywers verteenwoordig nie noodwendig die standpunt van Republikein nie. Republikein is ’n lid van die Redakteursforum van Namibië (EFN) en onderskryf die etiese kode vir die Namibiese media soos toegepas deur die media-ombudsman.