Make Reading Part and beyond School Life.

The education system in Namibia still faces many stumbling blocks including high repetition and drop-out rates. News reports noting inequality of teachers and schools in rural and urban areas as well as a lack of skills development.

The challenges in government schools are underscored due to lack of a reading culture among learners, which compromises learning, learners academic progress and in raising that child in its totality. Overcoming this problem requires everyone's input. And it is also worth noting that thousands of children across Namibia in their early childhood years do not have access to books at home or own a storybook of their own. Owning a book is integral to encouraging the Namibian children to get into regular reading habits and for increasing literacy levels.

The UNIC Windhoek children’s storybook ‘Frieda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ remains a campaigner for the fulfillment of the SDG4 (Quality Education). Dissemination results with the support of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture noted that more than 6000 books were delivered to regions across the country, especially reaching marginalised communities and children with disabilities. The Centre’s 2022 educational outreach programmes have extended the number of learners reached to an additional 3000.

Despite limited resources, the Centre remains committed to their bi-monthly educational outreach programmes and reading sessions at school in helping children reach their full potential and to secure a greater understanding of the SDGs. A child who can read can make a difference in his / her own life, not only in improving their general comprehension and vocabulary, but in improving his or her decoding skills as well.

The start of a new school year provided a fresh opportunity in reaching learners at after school tutoring centres. In support of the UN's 2023 communication priorities on the SDGs, the Education Company, Edu-Com in Windhoek received about 90 copies of the children's storybook of 'Frieda and the SDGs,' 50 sets of the Swift 30 SDG games, notebooks and environmentally friendly promotional items.

Edu-Com strives for a 100 % pass rate of learners, providing educational discipline support e.g., in homework assistance, test and exam preparation, project and research assistance, one on one tutoring and Afrikaans classes for beginners to intermediate.

The Head of Academic Affairs, Mr. Brian Sacco noted: "Handing-over of the UN-donation to our learners today was such a joyous occasion... When you create a conducive learning environment, you create a platform for happy learning. Happy learners tend to produce great academic results."