Ongwediva

Sorry it hs been a while since I wrote. Last week I was at a conference and had no internet. It was the Oshana Regional Educational Stakeholder's Conference: 2009. The town we were staying in was completely flooded, and even our very nice 4 star hotel was out of power for a while. The conference was very interesting and I wish I could attend a national meeting which included similiar information. One of the most informative presentations was given by the regional director, she presented the 2008 pass rates from different schools in the region. One of which 0 % of grade 10 students passed the English exam. The statistics were shocking. I couldn't believe how badly these schools were failing their students. Yet, overall the region was very happy with the results... firs the first time 50.1 % of grade 10 learners passed the national exam, the first time in history the region has seen a 'majority' pass rate. For grade 12 students only 20 % of the region passed their exam. The rest of the conference was focused around combating these number and what sort of policies need to be create to raise these pass rates. I struggled with most of the excersizes, knowing that even if we worked hard and came up with positive solutions, the implementation and monitoring would be low.

Minus the town being flooded and much time being wasted I did meet some interesting people and had a good time.

I am in Rundu until Friday when I will end to Zambia for the weekend to see Vic Falls, when I return on Sunday I will only have a few days in Rundu before I head to the AED headquarters in the capital to finsh the last week of my program. Then onto the Maryknolls for a week of service before returning home! It's getting closer...