By: Hellen Andreas
The director of education in the Oshikoto region, Alleta Eises, said education is the greatest equaliser.
Eises said this while delivering her speech at the official opening of Jolly Phonic Training at Ekamuti in Ondangwa in the Oshana region on Monday, which has seen a number of 263 pre-primary teachers from public and private schools in Oshikoto who attended three days of training this week.
Eises said the foundation the primary teachers are laying should be equal for learners to stand on it and move to the next level.
“Learners should be able to go for tertiary education because of the foundation you have laid down,” she said.
Eises emphasised that if the teachers’ foundation is quiet, learners are going to high levels, but they are not gaining anything; learners can lose hope.
“We are the hope givers at primary levels, which builds a child base. We should be more builders, and we need to have more building blocks in education, and this Jolly Phonic training is one of such building blocks we have to use to make sure our learners are advanced,” Eises added.
Eises further urged all the primary teachers to ensure their learners gained qualitative knowledge to take them to secondary and tertiary education.
“There would not be tertiary education if the primary teachers can not produce learners; primary teachers have to realise the critical role because primary education is the foundation of the whole education system,” she said.
However, Eises encourage the primary teacher to be focused, recommit, to rethink and to be determined and not only to teach the learners they like but to exercise exclusive education for all learners and invest education by going the extra mile in looking at the Learner Support Programme which has already been established.
“A nation without proper investment by involving learners in education will sit with a broken nation; therefore, we should make sure we correct and reimage.”
“We are coming from a difficult problem of Covid-19 which is still among us, but we can not hang on Covid-19, we can not be kept hostage by this pandemic; thus, we have to give each other a breathing space and take up our space in the directorate of Education, Art and Culture to move forward with commitment,” Eises said.
Eises concluded that primary teachers should know that they are valued appreciated, are the forerunner of education, and make sure they gain knowledge in training.
The Jolly Phonic Training attendance has also seen eight senior education officials, and the trainers in this train are from South Africa, Zambia and Kenya.
