WINDHOEK, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Namibian President Hage Geingob said Wednesday that Namibia's budgetary outlays will continue to be in favor of education, health and housing.
Geingob said this when he launched the country's fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) that is meant to drive development towards the country's Vision 2030.
The NDPs are five-year programs envisaged to transform Namibia into a developed country by the end of 2030.
Geingob said the government will increase investment in education, health, housing and integration of disadvantaged persons into mainstream economy.
"We will increase access to quality, integrated early childhood development, provide appropriate educational facilities, teaching-learning resources and better child health and nutrition," he said.
According to Geingob, Namibia has made great progress in providing access to education to just above 95 percent of the student-age population.
"Nevertheless, quality instruction is still unsatisfactory, especially in schools serving poor communities. In remote, rural areas, dropout rates are extremely high.
"Transition from secondary school to higher education is very low, currently estimated at 19 percent of the grade 12 cohorts. This will have to change," he said.
He added that the NDP5 will also focus on developing and maintaining educational and health infrastructure.
"As things stand, I am appalled by the poor state of many of our schools and hospitals," he said.
Geingob also said that NDP5 will go a long way towards propelling the country towards an advanced development stage with the capacity to design and produce sophisticated technologies.
Geingob further said although Namibia is classified as an upper middle income country, the problem of poverty continues to be a challenge.
He said notwithstanding the steady development of the country with the implementation of the NDPs, the government had to introduce the Harambee Prosperity Plan to alleviate poverty.
