Unemployed teachers of Ohangwena march to education director’s office demanding jobs

Over 100 unemployed graduate teachers in Ohangwena region marched to the regional director of education’s office to demand for jobs.

The teachers marched from the Multi-Purpose Youth Centre all the way through the town of Eenhana, chanting: “30 learners: one teacher”, “Down with interviews, down the connections, down corruption, down nepotism”, “We are teachers, not tourists”, “We are hungry, we want to work”, “We want jobs, now!”, “We want mass recruitment, now!”

They also toyi-toyed and sang: “Nghipondoka, wetu ekelashi”.

At the directorate of education offices they were received by the director of education in the region Mr Isak Hamatwi, who received their petition.

In the petition, read by Martin Dumeni, the unemployed teachers said that Namibia has a total of 8,251 unemployed graduate teachers who were produced by teacher training institutions between the years 2017 to 2023.

The unemployed teachers blame the government for being unwilling to address their unemployment situation.

“A government leadership is unwilling and don’t have measures in place to address this situation. We concluded that the Namibian government has demonstrated ignorance and unwillingness to implement policies on teacher/learner ratio.”

They also stated in the petition that 60 to 80% of schools in the country are understaffed. Which shows that there are many vacancies which could be filled by the thousands of unemployed teachers, yet the government is not willing to recruit them.

“This situation will lead to a decrease in the quality of education, which will lead to the collapse of education in Namibia.”

They also say that there is a mismatch between the institutions of education and the job market. They also want the government to put a stop to the training of new teachers for primary education for the next five years, or until all the teachers in the country are employed.

“A lot of teacher training institutions in Namibia are just for making money. Their target is profit,” they said in the petition.

The teachers also are asking for President Hage Geingob to honor the promise he made in his State of the Nation Address, where he said that N$200 million would be budgeted for the recruitment of unemployed teachers.

“We will continue with our protests in January 2024 until our demands are met.”

Receiving the petition, education director for Ohangwena Mr Isak Hamatwi said that he will deliver the petition to the relevant authorities.

“I have heard what you have raised in your petition. A number of issues raised, which are not for the regional directorate to address but for the minister and the ministry, which is larger than the directorate,” Hamatwi said, adding that the region has received permission to recruit 96 teachers next year.

“As the representative of the government I have received your petition, and it will be delivered to the higher authorities. And any step should be for the national level to take in addressing this issue.

“As you stand there, you are sons and daughters of someone. I feel your pain. We are together with you. You are not alone, therefore we will do everything in our power so that something tangible will happen and that your issues are addressed.”