The major investment that Rössing Foundation made during 2008 with the building of three Mathematics and Science Centres in Arandis, Swakopmund and Ondangwa, respectively has started to show strong positive returns and has made substantial differences to the lives of many learners and teachers. About 1000 learners benefited in these centers countrywide. Swakopmund centre in Tamariskia recorded the highest with 455 learners and 80% regular capacity utilization, Ondangwa and Arandis were recorded with 300 and 245 registered learners respectively.

The year end for grade 10 and 12 learners who participated in activities at the centers showed significant improvements in 2009, compared to the previous years. Atlantic Junior Secondary School was the best improved partner school in Erongo in four supported subjects, Mathematics, Physical science, Life Science and English compared to non-supported subjects such as Afrikaans, Geography, History, Business Management and Accounting. Regionally, in 2009 JSC Examination, Atlantic moved from 10th position to 8th position, exceeding Swakopmund Secondary School's previously occupied 8th position.

Governor of Erongo Mr. Samuel Nuuyoma

Students from the Rössing Foundation's Master Maths Centre attended a prize-giving Ceremony in Swakopmund Saturday the 14th November 2009. The ceremony, attended by The Governor of the Erongo Region, Honourable Samuel S. Nuuyoma (keynote speaker), students, teachers, parents community and representatives of the Rössing Mine and Rössing Foundation. During the award ceremony the Governor of Erongo commented a well done job by the top performers. In his address, the Governor said: "I would like to encourage each learner to continue learning from this Master Maths programme. Through this opportunity, our communities will be able to benefit from your skills and enable us to be in line with our national goals of Vision 2030." The Governor commented that the students should make use of the opportunity to attain mathematics skills, as the knowledge they acquire at the centre will open doors for them in the future. The centre, established by the Rössing Foundation to assist primary and secondary school learners and teachers in order to improve their school performances in Mathematics and Science in general.

Mr Tobias Amoonga

During the same occasion the Master Maths Programme Coordinator of Tamariskia Centre Mr. Tobias Amoonga acknowledged the presence of the Governor, the teachers and the parents for their support that lead to the success
of the programme. The Programme Coordinator further acknowledged the Master Maths Head Office in South Africa for their endless support.

Our learners from Arandis also won first place in the Erongo Regional Science and Technology Fair, indicating a marked improvement in the learners' understanding of science and technology based subjects. These centres are expected to continue to have a long-lasting impact over the next decade, when learners who have been exposed to the centres' activities for several years will reach school-leaving age.

In line with National Policy of Learner-cantered Education, the Rössing Foundation strategy and support to education is based on learnercentred approach. The envisaged outcome for all Rössing Foundation support is to secure quality education that allows all grade 12 learners to enter institutions of higher learning, in preparation of knowledge-based society.

The Rössing Foundation primarily aims to secure quality education through two interrelated but independently driven interventions of learners and teachers support. Rössing Foundation support focuses on English as the official Language through which skills in reading, mathematics, science and ICT are obtained.

In the picture above are the 2009 Top Learners at the Master Maths Centre in Swakopmund: from left: Karina Toivo (Namib High School) for Junior Secondary category, Mechtilde Shanghala (Westside High School) for Senior Secondary Category, Paulina Mbango representing Rössing Mine (third from right), Ndinelao Nelulu (Festus !Gonteb Primary School) for Senior Primary category and Mr. Bonadei Thekwane The Rössing Foundation Assistant Director for Quality Assurance and Sustainable Development.

In 2009, the Rössing Foundation support focused on:

• School-based teacher support,
• School community capacity-building,
• After-school development programmes for teachers and learners,
• Centre-based support programmes, and project partnership.

Zelda Katjiru, at Swakopmund Science lab using facilities

Libraries And Outreach Programmes

In 2009, apart from Mathematics and Science Centre-based activities the three Education Centres contributed to the enhancement of quality education in the different ways:

• The three libraries served a total of 515 adults and 790 learners in the issuing of 6014 books.
• About 30164 people including schoolgoing learners, out of school-youth and the public visited the three main Rössing Foundation libraries.
• 240 learners improved their reading levels by three age categories and improved their English proficiency. 95 learners competed in local regional and national science fairs competitions, 24 learners won medals: 12 at regional and 12 at national level.
• 236 grade 10 and 12 learners benefited from spring school, which was mainly focusing on preparing learners for the final examination in mathematics, sciences, English, and accounting.
• 177 learners attended regular reading classes to improve their English skills overall as well as their knowledge levels in lower primary disciplines.
• 17 school communities in Erongo, Oshana and Omaheke Regions were supported in capacity building in the field of school governance. About 95 teachers were directly supported by tutors' interventions at the 17 partner schools.
• 23 school principals were given the opportunity to improve their school management skills through a two-year Diploma in Education offered by the University of Johannesburg. Thirty eight (38) people were given scholarship through the Kolin Fund.

Over the past few years, the Rössing Foundation's main focus has been on improving the level of education in Arandis. Although the performance of some individual learners in Arandis was exceptional as the best learner for 2009 in the whole Erongo Region came from Arandis, most learners' performance in Arandis was not as high as it should be in relation to the substantial amount of resources that have been invested so far. The actions to address the situation require input from different key stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education such as school management, teachers, school-board members and learners; Constituency Council and the Arandis Community at large.

Omaheke School Improvement Project

Before 2009, the Rössing Foundation had no CSI programmes in the Omaheke Region, which borders Botswana. However, the Region experienced major education-related challenges, with its Grade 12 learners obtaining the lowest grades in all Regions countrywide in 2008.

The Omaheke Education Stakeholders Conference was the first initiative which was initiated at a regional level to look into Omaheke Educational needs and the way forward. It was at this conference the stakeholders decided to involve every role player and mobilize external partner. As a result, Omaheke School Improvement Project, a true joint-venture between The Rössing Foundation and Omaheke Regional Office, focussing on capacity building came to being.

Omaheke's officials approached the Foundation for assistance, based on the positive impact that its educational activities have had in the Erongo Region and Oshana Region. At the beginning of 2009 and at the request of the Director of Education Omaheke, a partnership agreement was signed with the Omaheke Region to strategically support the Omaheke Improvement Plan.

The Rössing Foundation provided for the direct cost of a specialist to assist four secondary and three primary schools in their educational programmes. Although the Foundation's involvement was limited to these schools, the impact was already visible by the end of 2009. The Omaheke Region had moved from 12th to 8th position in the country's ranking of Grade 12 results, while grade 10 moved from bottom 13th to 7th position.

The physical presence of the Omaheke School Improvement Project Advisor, Mr Bertus Gous and his visits to Omaheke Regional Office and schools were regarded as one of the strategies that yielded good results in project schools.

The memorandum of Understanding of the Omaheke Project support and the associated MoU with the ELMA Foundation were signed into 2009 and the project implementation started June 2009. Three primary schools benefited from the project: Mphe Thuto Primary, Omuhaturua Primary and Motsomi Primary School.