Namibia: School Athletes Out in Cold

Denver Kisting

28 March 2011

The annual schools’ athletics championships got off to a bad start on Thursday when 22 pupils from Etosha Senior Secondary School had to sleep on the floor at the stadium as no provision was made for them.

By 10h00 the next morning, they had not had anything to eat.

A teacher from the Tsumeb school on Friday claimed this was not the first time that their pupils have been overlooked at the championships.

Namibia School Sport Union (NSSU) national coordinator Solly Duiker yesterday said the pupils were only supposed to arrive in Windhoek on Frida and, therefore, no accommodation was booked for them on Thursday.

“All athletes from the Oshikoto Region were only supposed to arrive in Windhoek at 10h00 on Friday – it’s an annual thing. That’s why there was no accommodation arranged for them.”

According to Duiker, he received a call at about 23h00 on Thursday and was informed that the pupils were stranded at Windhoek Technical High School. He said accommodation was organised for them at the Windhoek High School hostel from Friday.

“The only place we could then go to was the stadium where they slept on brand new gym mats and had access to clean toilet and shower facilities.”

He admitted that breakfast was served late on Friday, saying that they had to approach a private restaurant after they were informed that children were not allowed to eat at the hostels where they stayed.

Duiker said the rest of the weekend was a success after they started later than planned because of the rain.

AllAfrica – All the Time