Today was the launch of the Education Conference 2011 - the main theme being ‘The will to Change – Reclaiming Academic Excellence’ with a sub-theme of Inclusive Education.
“Education is the cornerstone of power”
The objectives being:
- To set strategies to reclaim academic excellence
- To lobby and advocate for the support of learners with special needs and create awareness of Education Sector Policy on Inclusive Education
Today there were many dignitaries and speeches, songs and some dancing!
The conference was held at the training college which has now been re-branded as an annex to Namibia University (UNAM) and is along the D8 main tar road just out of town towards to Botswana border.
The Conference began at 8.15 with remarks, two anthems (National and Regional) and a traditional song, a bible reading and address and a prayer. The Regional Governor spoke and the Regional Director of Education spoke.
By lunch at 1pm we were already over an hour behind the programme so two events had to be pushed into the afternoon. We were supposed to have two sessions of 'breakaway' presentation and discussion groups lasting 30 minutes but since the one I attended lasted an hour and a quarter, the second series of breakout sessions was missed altogether!
It had been a really hot day until after lunch (about 31 degrees I think) and then it poured down on the tin roof of the sports hall where we were gathered and the speaker was just about drowned out by the noise and had to shout into her microphone!
We heard all about school self evaluation, inspection, SDP and AAIDs (both are types of improvement plans) etc etc; held a review of the last conference motions from 2007 and whether they had been achieved (not certain); national standards and then the national policy on Inclusion Policy.
We watched a DVD made by ‘Katima Movie Co.’ on how schools in the region are currently managing children with special needs and disabilities in mainstream schools - this was good but was over an hour long and also had to be cut. In fact the traditional dancers were told to stop their performance as time was running short and that was in the morning!
We are really stiff and tired for sitting so long. However, it seems that the Principals, Board Chairs etc thought highly of the event, the reasons being that for them this was a real special occasion, they were fed and watered three times and they felt valued to be out of school receiving information and 'training'. For them it was a huge happening. So for us only two more days of that!! Interesting.
This is Africa: political (SWAPO) and tribal (many chiefs there too) but a real willingness to move forwards with little resource to back up the central education agenda.
