Namcol invests N$20 million in better education

Ingrid Booysen
The Namibia College of Open Learning (Namcol) welcomed back old and new learners at a ceremony on 27 February in which they informed them of the new strategies to enhance teaching and learning.

"We are proud of the decision you made to try again. Repeating grades 11 and 12 is not the end of the road, but the beginning of a new challenge. It is an opportunity to uplift yourselves, which others did not get. Embrace this opportunity and make the most of it," manager for the tertiary programmes at Namcol, Justina Kavale, said.

Namcol has created an improvement strategy worth N$20 million that will be used to address any potential weaknesses in light of how the learners performed at the recently introduced advanced subsidiary (AS) level.

Online ready

Online learning allows all Namibians, not just Namcol students, to benefit from the many interactive lessons and content, teachers and tutors are teaching on the Notesmaster platform in both formal and informal settings.

Students are taught how to access and use the platform to direct their own learning and set the pace appropriate to their needs. On this platform, teachers, tutors, and learners can repost notes and ideas on the content, discuss it in class groups, and get online assistance from expert teachers and tutors.

As part of the college's improvement plan, additional sessions are scheduled two Saturdays per month, for two hours per subject, with a maximum of three subjects per day.

The college offers block tuition, a system where students only see and meet subject tutors three times a year, during the school holidays.

Online classes will be introduced to students, and trained staff will attend to them while community members have been assigned to centres to assist in monitoring the work done.

Lab technicians will be hired to help with science studies, especially the AS subjects.

Do your best

Kavale encouraged learners to strive for at least 25 points in five subjects as a minimum entry requirement and more than 30 points to have a broader range of study options. She said the competition is fierce in areas like engineering and thus encouraged them to at least get more than 40 points, saying even though this is the first time they have set the bar so high, it is still doable.

"Namcol vowed to take education to the people. This is our slogan, our brand promise to the Namibian nation at large. It is for this reason that we remain true to our promise to provide solutions to our learners, so that learning is made easier for them," she concluded.

Namcol also provides counselling services for any learners experiencing physiological distress such as depression, anxiety, or stress. Counsellors are on hand for learners wishing to discuss issues such as learning disabilities, academic advice, and job counselling.

Additionally, the college will provide a full scholarship to the top-performing students in 2023.