Grade 12 booting out, Grade 10 booting in

Michelline Nawatises
Katrina Frans and Penny Nepute



For some, finishing school was a 12 year journey with no short-cuts. But to other’s relief it has been cut short. This sent a wave of confusion all around that affected teachers, parents and leaners, both directly and indirectly.

The new curriculum was introduced in 2019 by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in hopes of improving our education level to meet global standards.

This drastic decision in short notice caused many controversies, with many people having different opinions regarding this decision, parents of learners were worried about the change in our education system, since some of them are uneducated or not well informed.

The new curriculum came with it’s up and downs, and good and bad effects of which the good effects include the newly introduced field at our school which is the Social Sciences field. This enables our learners to be able to choose from a wide variety of science fields which include chemistry, physical science, and also acknowledge the fact that social science as being part of science field in Namibia.

Furthermore, since the grade 11 also considered to be the pre-matrics this brings light to a different aspect of the new curriculum. During the old curriculum the matrix where only grade 12 learners, who got all the respect and took center stage at our school, but since grade 11 are pre-matrics they have to share the spotlight. This is what Selma a grade 11 learner had to say “Since this new system came as a surprise for me being a pre-matrics in grade 11, applying to universities will be much more difficult since thousands of grade 11 and 12 would be applying to varsities nationwide, and Namibia has limited number of universities, that’s two times the pressure on us learners in our academics.”

To shed some light on this matter, other new subjects have been introduced and having two matrix at school came with good effects including two matric attires at school, the matrix went for a bolder brighter yellow and blue jackets and t-shirts and blue skirts, going for the slogan “The final episode” to accommodate the fact that they are the final matrics and will be closing off the old curriculum.

This issue has had a great impact on our lives whether it was a good plan or not. The grade 11’s are at a crossroad of having to figure out whether to go straight to university and whether they are emotionally ready for it. The matrics, however, are seeing their road and journey now come to an end and they will be signing out in style…LEGIT!!!!!!!