Category: Education

WINDHOEK: The Japanese government has invested in the enhancement of academic exchange between Namibia and Japan as one of its mid-long-term drivers for strengthening bilateral relations.

Speaking at a celebratory ceremony of the 26 Namibian beneficiaries of Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) here Wednesday, Japan Ambassador to Namibia, Hisao Nishimaki said the scholarship is a dedication and commitment to the education sector of Namibia aimed at unlocking the different development sector and potential that is locked within Namibia.

Nishimaki explained that MEXT is a fully funded Japanese government scholarship which provides research programmes and teacher training for international students including Namibian students who wish to study at Japanese universities.

He noted that the scholarship has mostly funded students for their PhD studies in key development areas such as agriculture science, applied chemistry and chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mar
ine resources, energy and mathematics education, amongst others.

‘These areas are found to be key to Namibia’s development agenda as indicated in the Namibia Development Plans (NDPs) and the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) 1 and 2 as well as the Vision 2030,’ he noted.

One of the first scholarship’s beneficiaries, Pamwenafye Nanhapo, a senior lecturer on crop science at the University of Namibia (UNAM) Ogongo campus in the Omusati region currently trains students on rice production and has developed a three-hectare rice production unit producing two tonnes of rice called ‘Ogongo rice.’

Nanhapo said he wishes to assist in the rice production at the Kalimbeza rice project in Katima Mulilo, considering the drought conditions in Namibia.

At the same event, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation, Natalia Goagoses, said for the young Namibian government to foster development it is imperative to educate the nation, however, the government alone cannot achieve the goal within the desired time
frame, therefore strategic partnership is required to cultivate collaboration in the education sector to equip the citizens.

‘If our people are allowed to study and be empowered we will see many more individuals impacting the lives of Namibians by having already put the knowledge and skills into practice,’ she noted.

Namibia, she said, is equally affected by climate change and if the country does not receive rain anytime soon it will have an impact on the shortage of food, therefore, knowledge and skills received through the Japanese government, especially on crop production, such as rice production will assist the nation in food security.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

The Uukwiyoongwe Combined School located 15km east of Oshakati East on Wednesday received monetary donation from Rani Group worth N.dollars 40 000 aimed at the reconstruction of classrooms that burnt down earlier this year.

The incident of arson was reported in January this year, where a classroom, a library and a storeroom caught fire.

Officially handing over the donation on behalf Rani Group, Swapo Party Regional Coordinator, Werner Iita, said education is a shared responsibility and members of the community and business community need to meet government halfway.

According to Iita, every educated person does not go through shortcuts but takes determination, hard work and assistance, through community upliftment.

He noted that they received a letter of assistance from the school and approached three business people in the region, with Rani Group positively responding to the request.

‘The company requested the school to ensure that the funds are used for the intended purpose of ensuring that the Namibian
child is assisted in his or her education,’ he said.

Iita also indicated that there are so many challenges faced by the education ministry, which is why the involvement of other stakeholders is crucial.

The school’s principal, Albertina Hamalwa, stated at the same occasion that the donation from Rani Group will enable them to rebuild their storeroom, library and one of the classes that burnt down.

The school, which has a learner population of 150 learners, offers education ranging from pre-primary to Grade 9.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Khomas Regional Council (KRC) on Monday signed a Workplan with a delegation from the Jiangsu province of China on essential priority targeted areas of the existing twinning partnership.

The delegation headed by China’s Ambassador to Namibia, Zhao Wei Ping and the Vice Governor of Jiangsu Provincial, Ma Xin, hailed Khomas Governor Laura-McLeod Katjirua, as the founder and principal orchestrator of Khomas region and Jiangsu province partnership which has culminated in the signing of the work plan.

In June 2015 the KRC and Jiangsu Province signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which later translated into another agreement signed between the KRC and the Standing Committee of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Congress on 20 October 2023, leading up to the monumental signing of the Work plan between the twin cities on this day.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, KRC Chairperson Shaalukeni Moonde said ‘The signing of the Workplan is consequent to recognizing the tangible impact of the existing cooperation to the t
wo nations and institutions, based on equality and mutual benefits, to promote two-way exchange.’

As per the signed agreement, the Workplan acknowledges the extreme need to accelerate progress in friendly people-to-people contacts and cooperation, in the fields of science, technology, education, culture, sports, health, trade and investment, agriculture, investment, environment protection, tourism and human resources.

In her address, McLeod-Katjirua acknowledged that the previously signed agreements put the singing of the work plan in motion, ‘it is these two signed agreements that gave us the legitimate authority and absolute mandate to sign this envisaged five-year work plan to make our twinning partnership a more active and relevant force for our present and future development challenges as partners.’

McLeod-Katjirua further called on the administrators of the Work plan to keep the wheel moving in the right direction and the leading agents of the sectoral partnership, to make the fruits of their ties of
partnership more visible, alive and tangible to motivate or encourage others to emulate and to see the strength of this Khomas /Jiangsu partnership.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

WINDHOEK: The Minister of Higher Education, Training, and Innovation, Itah Kandjii-Murangi, has warned against the dissolution of the Namibia Training Authority (NTA) board, saying it will disrupt its operations.

The minister made the observation on Monday, when she addressed concerns raised by stakeholders against the constitution of the NTA board.

‘It is important to acknowledge that the dissolution of a duly appointed and functioning board would disrupt the continuity of operations at the NTA, thereby impending the delivery of essential services to stakeholders.

‘Such a course of action would be detrimental to the interests of all parties involved and would not serve the best interests of the nation,’ Kandjii-Murangi said during a media briefing.

The minister was clarifying the matter surrounding the board appointment after media reports that labour unions and employer federations have given the board 30 days to dissolve.

They claim that Kandjii-Murangi failed to incorporate their representatives in l
ine with the Vocational Education and Training Act.

Kandjii-Murangi appointed the new board in January 2023 to oversee the operations of the NTA, which is responsible for technical and vocational training. The seven-member board is chaired by Jerome Mutumba, a senior manager at the Development of Namibia, and businesswoman Ester Hoveka as deputy.

‘It is regrettable that the concerns regarding the composition of the board have only been raised at this juncture; despite the board having been in operation for over a year now, it is crucial to question the timing of these objections and to consider whether they are driven by genuine concerns for the effective functioning of the NTA, or by other motives,’ the minister said.

In order to address the issue, Kandjii-Murangi said she has asked the Ministry of Labour and Employment Creation, the unions, and employer associations to nominate individuals to be added to the current board.

Meanwhile, the minister said she was not involved in the process, adding that app
licants were shortlisted and interviewed by the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises in line with the Public Enterprises Governance Act.

‘It is recommendations that come to us that we look at and see whether or not these names that are here will be able to fit in serving the different functions of the given institution,’ the minister said.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

The Cabinet Secretary (CS), Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy Eliud Owalo has urged institutions of higher learning across the country to invest in ICT systems and automate their operations.

Owalo termed the universities’ automation process in the provision of services as very much similar to what the government is doing as far as the digital transformation agenda is concerned.

He said that ICT is not just an enabler to all assets of the plan but is also a critical success factor for the government to move forward.

The CS made these remarks during the launch of the University of Nairobi (UoN) ICT systems under the theme ‘Making the University Vibrant and Sustainable through Digitalization’.

In regards to what the University is doing starting with the 155 Wi-Fi hotspot, Owalo revealed that the Ministry of ICT is rolling out 100,000km of fiber optic cable to ensure that all those in the country that are not connected to internet get a reliable and stable internet and the minist
ry is also already on the trajectory of holding up the 100,000km of connecting fiber to all parts of the country.

According to the CS, the Ministry is also setting up a total of 25,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots which are intended for what the university is doing; so that the students can have hotspots around the hostels to connect to the online platform around the university from the comfort of their hostels to join the classes.

Further, he maintained that the Ministry’s target is to ensure that all government processes are digitalized so that Kenyans could consume services in the comfort of wherever they are in which aligns with the digitalization of the university process.

The CS observed that in 2022, the government had only 350 services in the eCitizen platform unlike today where 15,462 services are already fully digitalized.

He said the remaining services are partially digitalized and all government services will be available virtually on the platform for the citizens to consume the services wherever they
are.

‘Under thematic area of digital skilling, if we have public digital infrastructure in place, correspondingly, we must ensure that there is a commensurate level of skilling among the Kenyan population,’ stated Owalo.

He added that the Ministry has already rolled out an ambitious Jitume digital hub platform targeting youth members of the Kenyan society including but not limited to those in institution of higher learning, and also embarked on rolling Jitume hubs to 185 TVETS spread fully in the country to ensure youth get digital skills and access to digital jobs.

Additionally, the CS noted that the government, in a proactive manner, is training the youths and going an extra mile, connecting them to global technological companies so that they could leverage on the opportunities in the way of digital jobs.

Owalo announced that the Ministry has partnered with the legislature and is working together with Members of Parliament (MP) to facilitate a review of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Act to ena
ble MPs to spend 3% of annual CDF allocation on establishing the facilities in which to deploy digital devices.

He said that the National government is subsequently providing devices, connecting the internet, facilitating the training for free and connecting youths to the digital job where it has already trained 390,000 youths and connected 135,000 youths to digital jobs thus transforming youths from learners to earners.

The CS at the same time urged the Vice Chancellor of the University to find ways and means to ensure that on the digital platform and systems established, the students of the institution could also be able to become earners of those digital platforms and be able to pay their own fees among other privileges.

Even as UoN is embarking on the data center where Data privacy and Security is concerned, Owalo cited the need by all stakeholders to ensure that there is safe data storage facility and comprehensive risk mitigation framework built around digitalization processes so that it could corres
pond to the services and the risk of mitigation framework could also stand the test of time.

Cabinet Secretary for the Information, Communication and the Digital Economy Eliud Owalo (centre) poses for a photo with education and technology stakeholders during the official launch of digital ICT system for the University of Nairobi on Tuesday 26th March 2024 at the University’s main campus grounds

The CS also noted that the 222-payment system was a notable example of the benefits that could be accrued from enhancing efficiency and effective innovation which has already increased revenue collection because the Ministry has leveraged on technology to seal out the revenue leakages.

‘Let us digitalize all our processes to re-engineer operations and enhance efficiency, effectiveness, seal out all revenue leakages, eliminate corruption fully within operations to give enough revenue within the institutions and allow universities to run operations,’ he advised.

Also speaking at the event, University of Nairobi Vice
Chancellor Stephen Kiama said that the university community is very happy being the trailblazer in fulfilling the need to access innovation and showing the way as a digital immigrant.

He added that they wanted to be a competitive university in transforming the society adding that people needed to be trained and adopt change noting that innovation comes is never effective until the challenges are overcome.

Kiama said whatever challenges come with the digital launch, as a university they would adopt and improve on them.

He noted that innovation is disruptive, and urged all stakeholders to adopt and align with the new digital advancements accordingly.

The Director of ICT Paul Kariuki acknowledged the big support from the Transition Steering Committee and the Digitalization committee, claiming that they have made another significant milestone in the journey towards complete digitalization.

Despite the challenges posed by the technology of the past, Kariuki said that the university celebrated with the first b
atch of computer science graduate students who have contributed to the university’s ongoing journey toward automation.

He remarked that this is a testament of a relentless investment in ICT, Human Resource and Infrastructure that the university has embarked on, recognizing it as a beacon of innovation and pioneer in ICT adoption amongst institutions of higher learning.

Kariuki highlighted the following digitalization process to have been officially launched for the UoN ICT system including payment process Flow, UoN Financial Management System, Employment portal, Car sticker System and Document management System.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Murang’a secondary school principals have retained Esther Wambugu as their chairperson to head their branch of Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (Kessha).

Wambugu won the election, in the hotly contested position after she garnered 145 votes against Humprey Kariuki who garnered 143 votes.

Wambugu in her acceptance speech at Technology Primary school, in Murang’a on Tuesday said that she will improve the management of the association and unite the heads of the various schools.

‘As the current chairperson, I am familiar with the association’s dynamics and I promise to better its management,’ she said adding that elections of the association were competitive and united the heads together.

Wambugu, who is the Principal of Mumbi Girls secondary School said the association is fighting to ensure that the government’s policies towards education are favourable.

On his part, Kariuki conceded defeat and congratulated Wambugu saying he will work with her to make the association strong.

‘We did our best but t
he school heads have elected their preferred leaders,’ said Kariuki, principal of Githumu Boys Secondary School.

Kessha acting national chairman Willy Kuria who was an observer said the elections were free and fair, and pleaded with the principals to rally behind him as he will be running for the national post.

‘Murang’a teachers have demonstrated honesty in their branch elections and we are appealing to all the heads from the Mt Kenya region to attend the national heads conference and back their own,’ said Kuria.

Kuria, the principal at Murang’a High School thanked the head teachers for their commitment in carrying out a peaceful election.

In the election, Kamau Thuku from Vidhu Ramji Secondary School was elected the vice chairman after he garnered 143 votes.

Others who were elected include, Secretary, Hannah Wanjiru, organizer Patrick Irungu, Vice treasurer Caroline kioi, Treasurer Joshua Githinji and Assistant secretary Eunice Wamaru.

Source: Kenya News Agency