ONDERA: The Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare’s deputy director of marginalised communities, Rebekka Namwandi, has encouraged learners from marginalised communities to improve their marks through the Namibia College of Open Learning (Namcol).

Namwandi made the remarks in an interview with Nampa on Tuesday, saying only three of the 51 learners who form part of the directorate’s programme for marginalised learners qualified for further studies at a tertiary institution when the 2023 examination results were released.

The ministry’s educational support programme provides financial, moral, and psychosocial support to learners and students from the San, Ovatue, and Ovatjimba communities at all education levels.

‘Only one learner from the Omusati Region and two from the Omaheke Region managed to pass out of more than 51 marginalised learners,’ Namwandi said.

She said regardless of the negative results, the ministry wants to encourage the learners to not give up and to improve t
heir grades through Namcol so they can progress to tertiary education.

‘I encourage all the learners to apply for Namcol through their constituency offices and regional planners. They should not give up, failure is not the end of the road,’ Namwandi said.

Namwandi also encouraged those who qualify for vocational training, to apply for their preferred courses.

‘We have learned that some of our learners would love to go for vocational classes because they have technical skills, so they should pursue them,’ she said.

She further encouraged those who are at tertiary institutions to study hard and obtain their degrees so they can find employment.

‘The situation is harder now so I want to encourage those who are at higher institutions to get their qualification so they can get jobs,’ said Namwandi.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency