Volunteer teacher says he was ignored by school he helped establish

A volunteer teacher is crying foul after he and two other hopefuls were not considered for employment at a school they say they helped establish at Nkurenkuru.

Thomas Simbundu, a graduate teacher from the International University of Management, says the three of them were denied teaching jobs at Karanawa Primary School at Karanawa informal settlement.

He says he and other graduates lobbied the directorate of education in the Kavango West region to start the process of establishing Karanawa Primary School two years ago.

In May, the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture advertised four vacancies at the school, which Simbundu says he and the two other graduates applied for.

Interviews were conducted on 26 and 27 June.

However, only one of the graduates made it to the interview stage, he says.

He believes he and the other graduates who helped establish the school should be reconsidered for the positions.

“When the president addressed unemployed youth graduates, teachers to be specific, he encouraged the youth to identify communities without schools and start schools so that the government could meet us halfway to create employment or get recommendations,” Simbundu says.

After putting the idea into practice, they are overseen, he says.

“I sacrificed my time, being a security guard at night and a teacher during the day just to make sure this dream comes true, only to be excluded and to continue being a security guard.

“We sweat for this school day and night, but vacancies are filled by others,” he says.

Simbundu wants the government to investigate the matter.

The community, in solidarity with the volunteer teachers, wrote a letter to the Kadjimi circuit inspector, Esther Karondo, after the posts were advertised, pleading with the directorate to consider recruiting them.

Kavango West education director Pontianus Musore confirmed that his office received an official application for the proposed school last year, and that the volunteers came to his office to enquire about the possibilities of employment should the proposed school be formalised.

“The people who were called for interviews are those who met the cut-off point. As already explained, one of them, a male candidate, whose performance was within the set band, was called for an oral interview, together with others,” he said.

Musore said it was explained to the team that there was no automatic employment, and that the directorate is guided by the government’s recruitment policy which does not speak to volunteering as a measure of recruitment.

“Hence, recruitment follows a guided process, in a fair and inclusive manner,” he said.

“Volunteering is a selfless activity with no strings attached. The volunteers came up with the idea themselves that they wanted to get the young ones in the community prepared for Grade 1.

“They knew right from the start they would have to compete, as it was explained to them on numerous occasions, verbally and in writing.

“Now that we have acquired positions, we will work on [the school’s] formalisation,” said Musore.