The colonial regime left Namibia with a fragmented education system characterised
by factors such as racial and ethnic divisions, unequal access to education,
unqualified and under-qualified teachers and lack of proper schools facilities and
poor performance.
After independence, the Government made a commitment to reform the education
system. An education policy ‘Toward Education for All’ was put in place to guide
the education reform process. As a result, the education sector receives the highest
budget allocation in anticipation of making education accessible to all Namibians.
This study aims to analyse and evaluate the support provided by USAID to basic
education in Omusati Region from 1990-2003, in order to establish its effectiveness
by eliciting responses from beneficiaries and the study is based on Chen’s theory of
impact evaluation.
The support provided include the deployment of Peace Corps teachers, provision of
office equipment, books and capacity building for Namibian teachers and
administrators and a small grant for income generating projects. Furthermore, the
study looked at the performance of education in the Omusati region in general and
problems and challenges facing education in the region.