Education has become a source of considerable conflict in Namibia. Pupils and teachers have been increasingly active in opposing aspects of the repressive segregated education system.
In the middle of 1985 the National Namibian Students Organisation (NANSO) held a five-day conference at Dobra College near Windhoek, to review the progress of the organisation behind the slogan 'Conscientise the youth towards the unity and liberation of the oppressed and exploited'. In July the organisation held a demonstration outside the Apollo Restaurant in Windhoek, the last exclusively white restaurant in the city.
In November last year NANSO organised a meeting in Arandis, the township in which workers from the Rossing uranium mine live. SWAPO representatives addressed the meeting, and a NANSO spokesperson made it clear that Namibian youth were 'determined to challenge the colonialist system of education'.
Police temporarily detained for questioning two Namibian students, Percy McNALLY and Harry GOWASEB, in September after they had addressed a gathering at the Academy for Tertiary Education in Windhoek on the boycotts of schools and universities in South Africa. Both were students at the University of the Western Cape near Cape Town. In the same month the 'Minister of National Education' in the South African-installed Multi-Party Conference (MPC) administration, Andrew Matjila, stated that Namibian students studying at black South African universities and colleges affected by boycotts should apply to white South African universities to continue their studies. His statement was rejected by NANSO: 'How can we carry on a normal academic career at a university amid such abnormal social circumstances? Whether we are at a "white" university does not alter the fact that abnormal conditions prevail at present. We will always remain black and therefore will always sympathize with the black struggle and identify ourselves with our fellow black students in South Africa'.
In November 1985 the Academy for Tertiary Education was given formal university status. However, under Proclamation AG 44 of 1985, possibilities for student organisation are severely restricted. While the proclamation made provision for a Students' Representative Council, the governing body of the university — the Council — has been empowered to determine the SRC's composition, mode of election, tenure of office, duties and functions. The Council can also dissolve the SRC at any time.
Secondary schools in Namibia have also been a site of conflict. At the Okahara Secondary School an exam boycott took place in November, following the suicide of a student, Adolf Mbasuva. Tensions at the school appear to have arisen when the principal instructed teachers to reset school exams, because the initial papers were 'too easy'. Mbasuva committed suicide after writing a letter to the principal in which he stated that the latter bore 'personal feelings of hatred' towards him.
Student grievances have also emerged at the Augustineum High School. Pupils and parents have complained that the white principal carried out excessive corporal punishment and threatened students with expulsion for minor misdemeanours. The pupils, most of whom are believed to support SWAPO, also have political grievances.
The presence of 'cabinet ministers' from the MPC Administration at the annual prize givings of two Catholic Schools, became a source of controversy in November. The Commission of Justice and Reconciliation of the Catholic Church urged Catholic schools in Namibia not to collaborate with the administration, which was established by the South African regime last year.
Figures contained in the budget allocation of the Department of National Education and in recent official reports, provide further insights into the critical state of black education in Namibia. In terms of Proclamation AG 8 of 1980 which established eleven separate political authorities, one controlling the affairs of each 'ethnic' group in the Namibian population, corresponding separate education authorities were set up. Tertiary education, the education of children classified as 'Bushmen' and some primary and secondary schools outside the bantustans are, however, the responsibility of the Department of National Education.
Despite a 16.4 per cent increase in the 1985/6 budget allocation for the Department of National Education, the actual amount available for expenditure for the running of schools falling under the Department has decreased over 1984/5. Nearly fourteen per cent of the increase will be absorbed by the Academy for Tertiary Education and the South West African Broadcasting Corporation. Increases in staff salaries and operating costs have further reduced the amount available for schools to 1.4 per cent of the original allocation. Of the total budget of R64,699,000 this amounts to only R3 million (R518,900 less than in 1984/5). The Department, which is responsible for 78 schools (33,032 pupils), has had to reduce expenditure by R1 million over 1984/5 to stay within its budget.
By comparison the Administration for Whites has budgeted R40 million for the 67 white schools (16,047 pupils) under its jurisdiction, R3 million of which will be spent on sport facilities. While there are no figures available on the education budgets of the bantustan authorities, recent statistics indicate large discrepancies between bantustan schools and those falling under the white administration. While in white schools the teacher/pupil ratio is approximately 13 to one, in those controlled by the Ovambo and Hereroland administrations it is 44 to one and 31 to one respectively. Similarly, while in white schools there is one classroom for every 11 pupils, in the Ovambo and Hereroland bantustans there is one to every 59 and 38 pupils respectively.
Figures released by the 'Minister of National Education' in August shows a drastic deterioration in the quality of education since its division under separate authorities. Whereas 87 per cent of matriculation pupils in schools falling under the Kavango bantustan authority passed in 1980, in 1984 only 16 per cent did so. The corresponding figures for the Damara authority were 64 per cent and 30 per cent, for the Rehoboth authority 76 per cent and 45 per cent and for the Coloured authority 73 per cent and 45 per cent. In schools falling under the Administration for Whites 93 per cent of matriculation pupils were successful in 1980 and 88 per cent in 1984.
The Education Committee set up in July by the Minister of National Education to recommend improvements to the education system, reported in October and called for the control and management of schools to be removed from the Representative Authorities and placed under 'a central Minister with regional and local bodies at second and third levels'. Officials of the Administration for Whites, rejected the findings of the report, stating that they had constitutional implications and would lower the standard of white education.
A confidential report prepared by the Directorate of Development Co-ordination set up to make proposals for development, indicates that the level of resources presently made available for education fall far short of actual needs. The report calculated that to wipe out the present backlog in the shortage of teachers and classrooms and keep pace with future demand, teachers would have to be trained at the rate of 1,000 to 1,300 per year.
Little information has been forthcoming about education in the bantustan areas. Press reports in July, however, indicated that the salaries of teachers in the Ovambo bantustan had been cut without explanation. In a further development 23 South African Defence Force (SADF) teachers stationed in schools in the bantustan were withdrawn following controversy between the bantustan education authority and military commanders. The controversy centred on a sports programme organised for school pupils by the SADF, independently of the education authority, and from which other teachers were excluded. The activities of the SADF teachers constitute an extension of the occupation army's programme to win the hearts and minds of the local population.
