Written by Patience Nyangove
Thursday, 15 October 2009
CUBAN universities have sent back 16 second and third year Namibian medical students for alleged poor performance in mathematics and physics.
The students who returned home last week Thursday and Sunday were studying for medical degrees in pharmacy, bio-chemistry and biology at the University of Havana while others were at the University of Oriente.
Some of the students have blamed the Namibian education system describing it as poor compared to that of other parts of Africa and the rest of the world.
“Other African students go for Advanced-Level but we only have the HIGCSE which is not taught well,” some of the students who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
“Although we failed, there was a chance of changing careers but our Namibian Embassy in Cuba failed to assist us. We failed two subjects - mathematics and physics - as a result of our poor education system. Most Namibians are failing because of our educational background,” they added.
The students further claimed they only failed once but were sent packing and that the Namibian government failed to negotiate with the universities to afford them a second chance.
A student who identified herself as Leona said the studies were so tough and they wanted to change careers but the Cuban universities refused to allow them.
The students’ representative, David Kahumba, who was studying towards a degree in Microbiology, confirmed that they were chucked out after they performed poorly.
However, he refused to comment further saying he would only do so after briefing the Minister of Education.
When contacted for comment, Minister of Education, Nangolo Mbumba said it was regrettable that the students had failed to perform well. He also said that although the students were coming from a poor background, blaming the education system for their failure was not the best way.
Ministry of Education’s liaison officer, Ester Paulus rubbished the students’ claims that they were not given a second chance to repeat saying they were given opportunities to repeat but failed again.
“The University of Havana has a regulation that a student is only allowed to repeat, once, twice if there are reasons pertaining to health and other relevant reasons. Students that were sent back failed to pass after being allowed to repeat,” she said.
Paulus said some students also claimed they failed because of the language barrier while two of the students from the University of Oriente had their scholarships cancelled.
Paulus said there was nothing wrong with the quality of Namibia’s education and that there are many Namibian students studying at international universities in the same fields who excel in their studies with minimal difficulties.
She said there was no way the Namibian Embassy in Cuba could have helped the students as universities and terms of scholarships cannot be altered.
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