Parents did not pitch for meeting

|AWEBAHE JOHANNES ||HOESEB, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, ARTS AND CULTURE IN THE ||KHARAS REGION WRITES:

I want to set the record straight as far as it concerns my public relations with the community that I serve, specifically regarding a SMS published by Republikein in which it was alleged that I was unwilling to talk to aggrieved parents about their complaints.

My focus is on the misrepresentation of facts regarding an incident that took place as I was about to leave the premises of Karasburg Combined School for lunch on 28 February 2019.

One of the administrative officers informed me that there were three parents who wanted to have a discussion with me, and my response was that I had an appointment at 14:00 PM and need to eat first.

I then walked after her out of the Library of Karasburg Combined School, and as I was exciting the foyer of the administration block of the school, I came across three ladies, and I greeted them, whereupon one of them said that they were school parents and that they wanted to talk to me about the criteria used for the appointment of a certain Head of Department as an Acting Principal of that school.

My response was that I had a scheduled appointment for two o’ clock, and that I needed to rush to get a bite in town first, and to return to the school in time to honour the said appointment.

I had to deliver Concluding Remarks at the closing of a three-day Continuous Assessment (CA) and Question Paper Setting Training for all Adult Upper Primary Education (AUPE) Promoters across all three district s (Karasburg, Keetmanshoop and Lüderitz), in Karasburg, on Thursday, 28 February 2019

Contrary to what was portrayed I never refused to grant those three ladies who presented themselves to me as concerned parents an opportunity to convey what they wanted to me, but I only indicated to them that I was there on a mission to investigate an alleged stand-off that prevailed between the then Acting Principal of Karasburg Combined School, some teachers and supports staff members as well as School Board members.

When one of the ladies told me that they just wanted to talk to me about the criteria used for the appointment of a certain Head of Department as an Acting Principal at Karasburg Combined School, I stated that it was strange for me that they never questioned the appointment procedures and criteria when two other Heads of Departments were appointed in an acting capacity at the very same school after the former Principals left the school, but are now querying this particular appointment.

One of them then said that it was unfair that only “incomers” from other regions and tribes were considered for appointment, and that persons hailing from Karasburg and the ||Kharas Region and the south were overlooked always, and that the School Board’s recommendation was ignored.

I then told her that I was very concerned about her statement because it contained elements of tribalism and regionalism, and that I myself was an “outsider” from the Kunene Region in ||Kharas Region, and that by implication, her reasoning was a violation of Fundamental Freedoms of those that she viewed as “outsiders”, especially those encapsulated in Article 21(1)(g) and (h) of the Namibian Constitution.

I then stressed to them that the School Board of Karasburg Combined School recommended the appointment of the Head of Department as the Acting Principal of Karasburg Combined School, and that I also found it strange that the School Board made such a recommendation whilst another Head of Department was appointed to serve in an acting capacity “for a period not exceeding twelve (12) calendar months or until the post is duly filled, whichever comes first”, and that the twelve (12) period did not lapse by then, but that the School Board should explain that to the school parent community.

The School Board of Karasburg Combined School got the legal right in terms of Section 17(d) of the Education Act, 2001 (Act 16 of 2001) to have made such a recommendation to the Executive Director of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in the first place, and did just that without my influence.

Before I left them, I invited them to join me when I would have a meeting with the Chairperson of the School Board of Karasburg Combined School, so that they could hear from the Chairperson that the School Board in actual fact recommended the staff member whose appointment they were questioning to be considered for temporary appointment as Acting Principal to the Executive Director of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, and that the appointment was not imposed on the school.

Regrettably, none of those ladies pitched in the afternoon when I had the meeting with the Chairperson on that very Thursday, afternoon of 28 February 2019.

The cellular phone number of the Regional Director of Education, Arts and Culture in the ||Kharas Regional Council is public knowledge, and many stakeholders in education in the ||Kharas Region and beyond can attest to the fact that I am one of the most accessible public servants in the ||Kharas Region.

However, the approved organizational structure of this regional directorate makes provision for post levels such as Principals, Inspectors of Education and Deputy Directors, whom the customers of the Directorate of Education, Arts and Culture, including school parents may approach if the Regional Director would not be available. Those colleagues would then forward those matters hierarchically.

Let us focus on facts, and to check validity of assertions instead of merely accepting false rumours as truths.

Cross-border engagements between the learners and educators as well as other inhabitants of the Northern Cape Province and the ||Kharas Region increased significantly, and the Directorate of Education, Arts and Culture in the ||Kharas Regional Council is in the forefront of this success story of the Social Stream of the Twinning Agreement between the ||Kharas Regional Council and the Northern Cape Provincial Government.