Windhoek, Sept 15 – -On Monday, 13 September Old Mutual signed a partnership agreement to the value of N$270 000 with the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (MoEAC) in Namibia for the training and development of 407 high school mathematics teachers to be qualified for the Certificate in Advanced Mathematics for Teachers (CAMT).
This forms part of Old Mutual’s commitment to invest in initiatives that will significantly improve the teaching and learning environment, focusing on improving the Grade 12 maths results, with the introduction of the Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level in 2021 for public schools countrywide.
Mr. Mauriza Fredericks, the manager of Communications and Social Responsibility said in his speech: “Teachers have the ability to shape leaders of the future in the best way for society to build positive and inspired future generations and therefore design the society we experience today and tomorrow – combine that with a generation that has the ability to effectively build mental discipline, logical reasoning and mental rigor, critical thinking, and many more – these are all qualities that are nurtured by mathematics – and these are the qualities in a future-fit Namibia.”
Old Mutual’s sponsorship investment is channeled towards the development of mathematics content (by the University of Namibia); teaching material, subsidized internet connectivity (by MTN Namibia), and prize giving for the top-performing teachers at the completion of their studies.
While expressing her gratitude to Old Mutual as the main sponsor, Anna Bohn, Deputy Executive Director of the Ministry of Education said: “With the introduction of the AS level it has been the Ministry’s commitment to assist and support mathematics teachers to upgrade their skills and content knowledge in order to teach the subject with confidence.”
She further added: “Visualizing the spiral curriculum, the content of AS level builds on the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate (NSSC) Ordinary level in the same way as the former NSSC Higher level did, so, though senior secondary teachers went through their teacher training and acquired content knowledge at these levels as well as the methodology of teaching, there is a significant up-scale of the learning content, of which many of them might not have been teaching before as part of mathematics at a higher level, meaning that the Advanced Subsidiary level is benchmarked slightly above the content of the former higher level.”
Bohn further alluded that: “With the skilled human resource, namely the capacitated teachers, all learners have access to equitable inclusive quality education that qualifies them to pursue higher education – this, in turn, represents one of the desired outcomes of NDP5.”
Over the years, Old Mutual’s contribution in the education sector includes many other initiatives such as the Leadership Development Programme implemented in partnership with the African Leadership Institute for the past 14 years. This trains and develops school principals and heads of departments across the country to improve the management of public schools. – NDN Staffer
