Monte Christo Project Primary School learners get backpacks to start the new term
Around 1075 children from the Monte Christo Project in Havana benefited from the Panda Pack Project, following a hand-over ceremony held this week.
The backpacks were handed over to the school by the Chinese Embassy in Namibia in partnership with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA).
Speaking at the event, the Councilor of the Moses Garoeb Constituency, David Martin welcomed the donation and expressed gratitude towards the generous noble endeavor by the Chinese to help with the basic education in the country.
“We have built a special relationship with the Chinese Embassy which continues to put smiles on the little ones’ faces through our continued public-private partnership,” he said.
Martin highlighted that the constituency is still very much hampered by the lack of infrastructure and resources and the assistance from the Chinese in elevating the standards of basic education is most welcome.
The acting director of Education, Paulus Lewin at the hand-over, stressed that the government can not alone accelerate literacy across the country in order to achieve the full transition to a knowledge-based society, hence the donations and partnership are needed.
“China heeded our call for assistance and with such contributions, they are assisting with the creation of a conducive learning environment making the basic education sector better,” he added.
Lewin said the donation came at an opportune time as schools in Namibia commenced with the new term and the impact of the Panda packs will definitely be positive on the children and community.
Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhang Yiming said the project intends to assist Namibia in helping them attain quality education.
“I was touched when I saw the children sitting in tents,” he said. “Let me commend the teachers for not losing hope in the system and continue doing a good job,” he added.
The Panda project, initiated by the CFPA and Namibia’s One Economy Foundation with the support from Namibia’s Ministry of Education, donated 10,000 backpacks in 2018, and last year over 40,000 backpacks were distributed to children across the 15 regions in the country.
