John Mutorwa Minister of Basic Education, Sport and Culture John Mutorwa was born on 17 August 1957 at Nyangana, in the Kavango Region of north-eastern Namibia. A teacher by profession, he taught History and Guidance (Life Skills) at various secondary schools in the Kavango. Following the independence of Namibia in March 1990, he was appointed as the first Regional Commissioner (Governor) for the Kavango, Omega and Tsumkwe areas in August 1990. He was appointed Minister of Basic Education and Culture in March 1995, with Sport added to his portfolio in 2000. A Member of Parliament for the SWAPO Party since 1992, he is married and has four children.

Creating Learning Societies

Namibia has made considerable progress since its political independence in early 1990. Inequalities in education have been substantially reduced, yet unemployment rates for especially the youth, poverty, and low economic growth still prevail. In order to deal with these and other challenges, Namibia developed its national development strategy, Vision 2030, in which education and training are expected to play critical roles.

The challenges for the education sector in Namibia are to translate this vision into realistic and implementable programmes, and to develop and adopt a set of interventions which will raise the quality of educational provision, lead to the elimination of inequalities, establish affordable and sustainable systems, enhance institutional and management capacities, and produce knowledgeable, competent and innovative graduates.

In our efforts, to prevent HIV and AIDS and mitigate its effects on our young people, to decentralise educational services to communities, enhance community involvement, eradicate illiteracy especially among our rural population, and take advantage of the new technologies, we need to remember that it is not only what happens in the classroom that has an impact on young people’s achievements, but also whether they are part of a learning society, with an integrated approach to learning – one that seeks synergies between different components of the education system.

If it is true that literate parents have literate children, then it is important to invest in the literacy of especially women. If it is true that our teachers must be well qualified and keep updating their knowledge, then we need to invest in open and distance learning systems, from which many others in society will also benefit. If we want learning to be relevant to people’s interests and to contribute to national development, then we must invest in libraries and information systems so that research at many levels is possible.