Day: June 25, 2023

The World Bank said yesterday, it has approved a 110 million U.S. dollar-loan to finance a project, aiming to boost education quality in the southern Philippines.

The multilateral lender said, nearly two million elementary school students from kindergarten to grade 6, as well as, over 60,000 teachers and school administrators in three poor regions in western Mindanao, will benefit from the new project.

The coaching programme will concentrate on enhancing literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills for the students, particularly emphasising peace-building, gender-sensitive instruction, climate and disaster resilience, and inclusive education.

The project will also deliver professional development opportunities to teachers and school administrators and supervisors.

Ndiamé Diop, World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, noted that, the project is part of the multilateral lender’s continuing support to boost human capital in the Philippines.

In the past decade, the Philippines has increased investments in basic education and seen improvements in enrolment. However, learning outcomes remained weak, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenge

Source: Nam News Network

A total of 11 officers of the Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) in Windhoek have lost employment due to their involvement in smuggling of prohibited goods into the correctional services facilities in over a period of three years.

This was revealed by the Namibia Correctional Services’ Deputy Commissioner, Veikko Armas, here on Saturday during an anti-contraband annual campaign aimed at sensitising inmates and the public on the effects of contraband, under the theme; ‘Uniting the Nation against Contraband’.

He said during the last three-years the facility has lost 11 officers, of which one was dismissed, while six resigned and currently four are on suspension.

Armas further revealed that between January to June 2023, 40 mobile phones; 67 sachets of cannabis (283 grams of cannabis); 40 pieces of crack cocaine; two mandrax tablets and 42 sachets (941g) of tobacco, were found at the facility.

He explained that the prohibited items were mostly confiscated during searches, stressing that often the drugs are planted around the facility, courts and public hospitals by officers who work with the inmates.

“The smuggling of contraband poses a substantial threat to the overall mandate of the Namibian Correctional Service of providing safe, secure and humane custody to offenders. It also poses a substantial threat to the safety of correctional staff, inmates and the public at large as these illicit items can be used by inmates to perpetuate violence against officers, fellow inmates and members of the public,” he stressed.

He noted that smuggling equally has been observed to be detrimental to the rehabilitation and reintegration efforts aimed at offenders, fuming that instead of focusing on their restoration as law-abiding citizens, smuggling continues to support criminal attitudes and behaviours.

Armas highlighted that the challenge of shortage of staff at correctional facilities increases security threats and incidents due to the disproportion it causes in the ratio of offender to staff, as inmates tend to outnumber the correctional officers at the facilities.

“Let us work together to make our facilities free of contraband for the effective rehabilitation of inmates. Do your part in playing a role in uniting the nation against the smuggling of contraband,” he urged.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Namibian female sprinters and a long-distance runner were on Saturday crowned winners of their respective categories at the African Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 Regional Annual Sports Awards (RASA) Awards.

The awards aimed at recognising, rewarding and celebrating the region’s sportspersons for iconic and laudable achievements in sports, were held at Matshapa, in Eswatini.

The awards were made up of 12 categories recognising athletes, coaches, member countries, regional confederations, journalists and teams that had produced outstanding sports performances at regional and international levels.

Namibia received five nominations in different categories at this year's awards.

Long-distance runner and 2022 Namibia Sports Awards Sportswoman of the Year, Helalia Johannes was crowned as the 2023 AUSC Region 5 sportswoman of the year, overcoming a challenge from Naledi Marape, a chess player from Botswana and Lara van Niekerk, a South African swimmer.

T11 female sprinter and NSC sportswoman of the year, Lahja Ishitile, won the sportswoman of the year with a disability award, outclassing her competitors Ivy Chanda of Zambia (football) and Minkie Janse van Rensburg (swimmer) from South Africa.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency