14th April 2009


This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth and the fiftieth year of the birth of Commonwealth cooperation in the field of education. It is thus an opportune time to reflect on what the Commonwealth has achieved collectively in Education in the last fifty years and to chart a way forward for the next fifty years. In order to fully appreciate the challenges of the future, we should first highlight the current global context and its implications for future education collaboration within the Commonwealth family.

Future educational cooperation in the Commonwealth is likely to be influenced by global developments in many ways. The current global context is characterized by uncertainties. The turmoil in financial circles, which is creating instability in the world trading system, could lead to economic slowdown and stagnation. Terrorism, which is creating insecurity, may limit movement of people. Communicable diseases are weakening the productivity of the labour force and efforts to mitigate their impact are consuming sizeable resources. Climatic change, which is responsible for Tsunamis, floods and droughts is a threat to us all. The combination of these factors will surely test the political will in the Commonwealth in terms of genuine sharing, solidarity and commitment to cooperation.

As we celebrate the past fifty years of cooperation in education in the Commonwealth, it is indeed, imperative that we should reflect on the way forward. The global context highlighted above should guide us to ask such questions as:

• Can we – by pooling our experience, ideas and resources in education and research- identify ways forward for our communities to address these big issues?
• Where are the main challenges and opportunities for cooperation in education?
• What new ways and means of working together are open to us in the Commonwealth, and what new forms of partnership can we develop?
• Given past experiences, does educational cooperation in the Commonwealth have particular value?

The fifteenth Conference of Commonwealth Ministers of Education in 2003 identified six Action Areas for Cooperation in the Commonwealth. These were:

• promotion of the achievement of Universal Primary Education (UPE);
• reduction of gender disparities and promotion of equity in Commonwealth Education by 2015;  
• providing assistance to Commonwealth member countries at risk of not achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);
• using distance learning to overcome barriers
• strengthening the education sector response to HIV/AIDS and addressing its impacts and
• improving the quality of education, in particular by addressing the shortage of qualified teachers, promoting tolerance, values of democracy, human rights, citizenship, peace and good governance.

Within the context of these Action Areas the Commonwealth Secretariat devised programmes to assist member countries to address these objectives through cooperation. In Cape Town in 2006, Ministers chaired by the Honourable Minister of Education in South Africa, Mrs. Naledi Pandor, monitored achievements in the three years following Edingburgh; and earlier this week, again under her guidance have been reviewing progress since then. Since the Commonwealth Secretariat will surely report to the 17 th Commonwealth Conference of Ministers of Education in Kuala Lumpur in June this year and thence to the Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad in November, it is not therefore my role to evaluate whether or not these Action Areas have been effectively achieved in the Commonwealth member countries through cooperation.

I shall however share the Namibian perspective on one of the Action Areas, namely, the improvement of education quality and offer a few thoughts about the modes of education cooperation that Namibia has found particularly useful.

At independence in 1990 Namibia committed itself to promote education for all. The Constitution of the Republic of Namibia, in Article 20, mandates that “all persons shall have the right to education,” and “children shall not be allowed to leave school until they have completed their primary education or have attained the age of sixteen years”. According to Education Statistics 2006 of the Ministry of Education’s Education Management Information System, there were 557,673 learners in formal General Education, giving a Net Enrolment Ratio of 92.5% in Grades 1-7. The Net Enrolment Ratio for females and males was 94.2 percent and 90.9 percent respectively.

While Namibia reached impressive Net Enrolment Ratios, the challenge facing the Namibian education system is the improvement of quality. Education Statistics 2006 reported that “Grade 1 repetition rate rose from 18 present in 2001 to 20 percent in 2005”. The Report further noted: “High repetition rates were recorded for Grade 5 and 8”. The quality challenge in the Namibian education system necessitated the development of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP) that identified five strategic policy goals for the improvement of educational quality. These were:

• equitable expansion of access to post-basic education and training, with a view to increasing the supply of skills;
• improvement of education quality and effectiveness, demonstrated in increased education outcomes and outputs;
• improvement of equity in the distribution of education resources inputs and learning outcomes;
• more efficient mobilization of resources required to finance the sector and more efficient use of those resources and
• strengthening the capacity to implement proposed reforms and to respond to the adverse impact of HIV/AIDS.

The strategic policy goals were buttressed by twenty-three actionable policy objectives. The policy objectives aimed at improving the delivery and management of Early Childhood Education Development (ECD) and Pre-Primary Services; promotion of quality and effectiveness of Early Childhood Education and Pre-School; and enhancing equity of access to Early Childhood and Pre-Primary Education. Clearly, the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme recognized the importance of a strong foundation as a preparation for future learning.

Moreover, the improvement of quality in general education was to be achieved through greater efficiency in resource mobilisation and utilisation; enhancement of relevance and responsiveness of general education; and strengthening of delivery capacity and management of general education. Equity and access to Higher Education were other cardinal goals of the Programme as well as the mainstreaming of ICT in the entire education system. The programme further aimed at improving system’s response to the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Namibia is now actively implementing the ETSIP initiative with the goals of achieving measurable improvements in educa tional quality by the year 2030. ETSIP is part of the National Vision 2030 through which Namibia strives to be a prosperous, harmonious, peaceful and politically stable nation.  

The Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme will cost an additional U$ 354 million for its implementation. Government and its Development Partners have been able to mobilize U$ 328.8 million, leaving a gap of U$ 31.1 million. This gap is being addressed through borrowing. Such borrowing is on unfavourable terms given Namibia’s status as a Lower Middle Income country.

Namibia’s education experience might not differ substantially from that of other Commonwealth Developing countries. If Namibia is going to achieve its educational improvement goals, Namibia needs international cooperation, including Commonwealth cooperation, to succeed.

The global situation has led to decreased demand of Namibia’s minerals leading to shrinking of the GDP in general and tax revenue in particular. This means that Namibia will not be able to generate sufficient domestic resources in order to meet the needs of the education sector, especially its reform efforts. Namibia looks, therefore, forward to intensify Commonwealth educational cooperation in the future.

Important areas for future educational cooperation in the Commonwealth may include:

• secondary school level text books exchange;
• institutional cooperation in capacity building and leadership development;
• the use of ICT in education;
• unhindered student mobility between the Commonwealth countries;
• professionals exchanges to enhance sharing of good practices in the Commonwealth
• institutional collaboration in training and research;
• networking among educational professionals;
• collaboration in educational innovation;
• cooperation in teacher education;
• exchange of information on design of affordable physical facilities for schools and
• abolishing taxes on instructional materials in the Commonwealth.