San in dire need of hostel accommodation

San in dire need of hostel accommodation Learners at the Tianjiu Hope Happiness Primary School in Talismanus, some 220km east of Gobabis in the Omaheke Region, are in dire need of hostel accommodation.

The school, which was built in 2015 for learners unable to secure placement at other schools due to limited places, has 270 learners in Grades 0 to 7.

Besides being a relatively new establishment, the school has no accommodation for learners in the form of a hostel.

The school population is largely made up of San learners, whose parents' original homesteads are more than 100km away from the school.

In a bid to be closer to their young children, some parents built makeshift structures at Talismanus in which they reside with their children.

This force learners to share a single room with their parents, which often expose them to the unbecoming conduct of their parents, especially related to intoxication.

School management member, Jeanette Ruueza told Nampa on Thursday the lack of a hostel has placed the learners in undesirable circumstances.

“When some of these parents are intoxicated, they end up doing things in front of their children which they (children) are not supposed to see. This is indeed a sad reality,” she said.

There is no electricity at these makeshift structures and learners' problems are made worse by hordes of shebeens that emit noise and exhibit the noxious behaviour of adults in full view of learners, most of whom are younger than 14.

“Bars and shebeens are a problem as learners' parents either work there or frequent these places, which lure these young kids to such places,” said Ruueza.

Other parents have opted to have their children attend school from their home villages, but this forces learners to walk long distances to and from school.

“Poverty is a problem this side for these learners too. Children are only fed maize meal daily through the school feeding programme without any balanced diet due to a lack of funds,” Ruueza said.

Most parents approached by Nampa refused to speak on record, although they admitted that they had no choice but to move closer to their children to support them.

Talismanus is the main economic centre of the Otjombinde Constituency and has a clinic, government offices and a police sub-station, amongst other services.

-Nampa

CHARLES TJATINDI