Popular Democratic Movement Member of Parliament (MP) Nico Smit on Thursday requested an investigation and a full audit into the expenditure of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture for the 2022/2023 Financial Year.

Smit made the request in the National Assembly, saying an investigation into the ministry’s expenditure of N.dollars 14.1 billion allocated for the 2022/2023 financial year, with specific reference to infrastructure and textbook expenditure, is needed.

“The outcomes of the ministry are hopelessly disproportionate to its inputs and are indicative of a need for an investigation into the management and use of its budget,” said Smit.

The MP made reference to the mere 21,4 per cent of grade 11 learners who qualified for Advanced Subsidiary (AS) levels and the remaining 78.6 per cent neither qualifying for, nor having access to, tertiary education.

Smit added that despite the injection of N.dollars 14.1 billion into the education ministry for the 2022/2023 financial year, reports of a scarcity of something as basic as textbooks are still an issue in many schools.

“We hear, at every turn, of a dire scarcity of textbooks in our schools, to the detriment of learners,” he said.

Overcrowded hostels, poor living conditions, lack of ablution and toilet facilities, and bat-infested or collapsing ceilings are some major challenges schools face, Smit said.

He emphasised that these challenges tend to question where the ministry’s priorities lay and where the money allocated to education is being spent.

“The physical conditions at many of our schools are deplorable and indeed shameful,” said Smit.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency