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ETSIP Programme Manager
Mr. Justin Ellis
The Ministry of Education has
developed a 15 year strategic plan (2005/6 – 2020), namely the Education
and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP). The Education and
Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP) is a comprehensive
reformation of the education and training sector. ETSIP which runs from
2005/6 to 2020 sets targets for the entire education and training
sector. 
In the first fifteen years of independence Namibia has succeeded in providing access to ten years of education for some 85 – 90 % of its children. Basic adult literacy was at 81% by 2001. However, on closer examination it has been realized that the current education system is contributing inadequately to the creation of a knowledge-based economy, as foreseen in Vision 2030, the country’s long-term plan for industrialisation. Generally speaking, the standards achieved in Namibian education are low. A small number of Namibians have achieved senior secondary education, and too few have completed vocational or tertiary education qualifications. A system of information and knowledge management, and of technological innovation, is lacking, despite a rich endowment of mineral and natural resources. HIV/AIDS is threatening the few gains made. The extremely high levels of inequality inherited from South African apartheid rule have proven hard to sufficiently redress.
Namibia has therefore, with the assistance of the World Bank, devised a bold fifteen-year improvement plan for education known as the Education and Training Sector Improvement Plan (ETSIP.) These are its main aims.
The quality of general education (grades 1 – 12) is to be improved through a wide range of measures. The curriculum will be revised to ensure that it meets the demands of a knowledge-based economy. The supply of textbooks and other learning materials will be increased. New standards will be enforced. Systems of performance management and accountability will be introduced, including licensing of teachers and performance targets for each school. National tests will be introduced in grades 5 and 8 to supplement existing national examinations at grades 10 and 12. Support for teachers will be stepped up through re-organised inspection and advisory services, and the cluster system, in terms of which 4 - 8 schools in one vicinity are grouped together. Special education will be enhanced, initially through policy development.
Information Communication Technology will be rapidly spread throughout the sector to enhance learning and administration. The curricula will be revised to make ICTs a cross-curricular tool as well as a subject. Staff will be trained, and ICT services and support structures developed, so that technology can be deployed and maintained. Education management will also be enhanced through the use of ICTs.
Greater efficiency and reduced wastage is to be pursued throughout the education system. Performance contracts will be introduced for all managers and administrators in the system. Learner-teacher ratios will be re-examined with a view to arriving at an affordable level of expenditure on personnel. Cheaper ways of providing textbooks will be developed. Time on task for both teachers and learners will be carefully monitored.
The provision of senior secondary education (grades 11 and 12) is to be expanded. Currently 46,3 % of grade 10 learners are taken into grade 11. The intention is to increase this to 80% by 2020. Fuller use is to be made of existing facilities, some of which will need expansion of classroom and hostel space. Six large new senior secondary schools of a high standard, to be known as comprehensive schools, are to be established by 2011, mainly in the northern regions. Experienced foreign teachers will be recruited by various means for key subjects such as mathematics, the sciences and English, to supplement an increased supply of qualified Namibian senior secondary school teachers.
Vocational Education and Training is to be reformed and expanded. A National Training Authority will be established with the private sector having the majority of seats on the Board. Competency-based qualifications, curricula and study manuals relevant to the needs of Namibian industries and circumstances will be developed. A training levy (initially 1% of payroll) will be instituted. Government Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) will be re-equiped and will become self-governing through careful preparation. VTCs from both the public and the private sectors will compete for the available funding. Admissions to all VTCs will be expanded and three new vocational training centres will be established by 2011. Trainees may be sent to neighbouring countries and elsewhere for some forms of training that cannot be economically offered in Namibia. The system of Community Skills Development Centres (COSDECS) will be expanded.
Tertiary Education and Training is to be strengthened and expanded, especially in areas where human resources are in short supply. The National Council for Higher Education, and other bodies, will be established to ensure high standards and efficient allocation of resources. Relevant research will be supported. Training of teachers in relation to need will be speeded up. Pre-entry and foundation courses and other schemes to provide more tertiary entrants in the sciences, engineering and other areas of national need will be funded for a limited period.
A national system of Knowledge Management and Innovation is to be developed, considering the experiences of other countries. A National Commission will be established, in terms of the Science and Technology Act 2004, for public policy coordination and the financing of research. An institution will be established to act as a broker between those who need technical solutions to particular production challenges and those who might be able to provide or develop solutions that can increase local value-added production, enhance productivity and promote innovation. A ‘marketplace’ for information and knowledge will thus be developed.
Early Childhood Development and Pre-Primary Education will be enhanced through policy, legal and institutional development, the training of caregivers and pre-primary teachers, and the pro-poor expansion of access.
Access to information, culture and lifelong learning will be strengthened through revision of policy, legal and institutional frameworks and improved access. Making arts training more vocational and market related will promote the employment creation aspects of arts education. The national information service network will be upgraded by enhancing information and communication technology to expand access to relevant information and learning resources. Digital information and document management systems will be implemented to make use of national and global electronic information resources.
HIV/AIDS Management is to be enhanced. Strategies to be implemented to prevent HIV infection include awareness raising and empowering, regulatory issues and curriculum and learning issues. The treatment, care and support of learners will be addressed by devising a system of holistic care, counseling and support. Workplace activities will focus on management actions, workplace support and advocacy.
Equity in education will be increased through a general pro-poor bias. Pre-primary programmes (for those aged 5 – 6 years) are to be established, initially in marginalised communities, to improve the level of school-readiness. Disadvantaged learners will be given preference in admission to the new comprehensive senior secondary schools to be established in their communities. Systems to allocate funds fairly in terms of unit costs will be developed as part of the decentralization process in government. Scholarship programmes and grant schemes will be reviewed with a view to greater support for the most disadvantaged applicants. Increased efforts (including unconventional and non-formal means) will be made to include and retain all children in basic education. Orphans and vulnerable children will enjoy specific attention, especially at school level.
A capacity development programme will be pursued to ensure improvement in all aspects of institutional development, including leadership, strategy and planning, human resource management and development, partnership development, and change management.
Concerning funding arrangements, ETSIP is designed as a sector-wide programme of the Government of the Republic of Namibia, and falls within the normal planning, reporting and financial arrangements of government, including the National Development Plan and the Medium Term Plan. ETSIP is therefore to be implemented through the Third National Development Plan (2006 – 2011) and through Annual Work Plans commencing in 2006/7. GRN generally prefers to receive budget support, including targeted budget support. A Facility has also been created by agreement with the EU and Sida for institutional strengthening and capacity development. The Education Act 2001 provides for an Education Fund under the control of the Ministry of Education for disadvantaged learners. However, it is also recognised that some agencies (for a variety of reasons) would want to provide support (by agreement) under their own auspices.
TECH/NA! represents the Ministry of Education's ICT component of ETSIP.
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