Select Page

DebMarine Namdeb Foundation building four new classrooms at Auas Primary

DebMarine Namdeb Foundation building four new classrooms at Auas Primary

Platoon classes will be something of the past for the learners of Auas Primary School in Katutura following a grant from the Debmarine Namdeb Foundation to construct four new classrooms for those children who must attend school in the afternoon. The groundbreaking ceremony was held last week in the schoolyard.

Foundation Chairperson and Chief Executive of Namibia Diamond Trading Company, Mr Brent Eiseb, said “as a Foundation, we know that doing what we are doing today is the right thing to do. This partnership has a simple aim: to provide inclusive and high-quality education for children in the communities where we work. We are collectively focused on Building Forever through four core pillars, with a vision for each. Through four strategic pillars, we strive to protect the natural world, partner to support and promote thriving communities, accelerate opportunities for young people, and lead ethical best practices across our industry.”

“Our collective wish is to make a lasting difference to the current and future learners of Auas Primary School, by providing a safe and conducive environment for learning as we prepare that future 23-year old’s here with us today in order for them to be able to maximize the opportunities 2040 would offer them tomorrow. I am sure we can all agree that students that have a good early start are likeliest excel later in life,” he said.

“The Debmarine Namdeb Foundation as well as the Namibia De Beers entities collectively support young people and therefore take the Governments hand to ensure a brighter future for the Namibia child.” stated Eiseb.

In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Education, Arts and Culture, Hon Faustina Caley, said “the Auas Primary School is negatively affected by the dreaded double-shift school system. This system was necessitated by the fact that the schools do not have enough classrooms, and over the years, the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture has been addressing this phenomenon. It is in an effort to mitigate the double-shift system that the Khomas Regional Directorate of Education approached the Debmarine Namdeb Foundation to assist with the funding of a block of four classrooms and ablution blocks.

“The Grade 3 learners at Auas Primary School were attending the double-shift system, and our experience has taught us that learners attending the afternoon shift were performing poorer than learners attending the morning shift,” she explained.

Khomas Region Governor, Hon Laura McLeod Katjirua thanked the Debmarine Namdeb Foundation for the partnership with the Directorate of Education. She indicated that Auas Primary School is but one of many schools that still need infrastructure in the form of classes and ablution blocks.

Lending a hand to turn the soil for the foundations of a new four-classrooom block at Auas Primary School, are from the left: Mr Nghikembua, Ms Libertha Kapere, Mr Riaan Burger (DNF Board Member and Namdeb Chief Executive), Hon Faustina Caley (Deputy Minister of Education. Arts & Culture), Hon Laura McLeod Katjirua (Khomas Governor), Hon. Kornelia Shilunga (Deputy Minister of Mines & Energy), and Mr Brent Eiseb (Foundation Chairperson and Chief Executive of NDTC).


 

About The Author

Mandisa Rasmeni

Mandisa Rasmeni has worked as reporter at the Economist for the past five years, first on the entertainment beat but now focussing more on community, social and health reporting. She is a born writer and she believes education is the greatest equalizer. She received her degree in Journalism at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in June 2021. . She is the epitome of perseverance, having started as the newspaper's receptionist in 2013.