An effective education and training system is fundamental to generate skills and knowledge that
are critical for any country to prosper and to compete in international markets. In the absence of
an education system that caters for the various sectors of the society, it is always difficult for the
country to create employment, reduce poverty and to attain equitable social development. A
pressing challenge for Namibia is to break the bottleneck of inadequate places at senior
secondary level. Below 50% of learners completing the Junior Secondary phase each year are
able to proceed to Senior Secondary Schools. The best way of addressing this challenge was
the establishment of the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) through an Act of
Parliament in 1997. The College has been mandated to increase access by providing
educational opportunities to adults and out-of-school youth who are unable to attend traditional
schools.
Since its inception in 1997, the College has been successful in providing education to over two
hundred and seventy three thousand (273,000) learners. Over the years, the College was faced
with the challenge of assessing its effectiveness in contributing to the supply of qualified,
productive and competitive members of the labour force for the country. To examine its
contribution to the national development goals, the College commissioned a tracer study in 2006
on former learners who studied for the exit level of secondary education between 1999 and 2001.
The study confirmed indeed that NAMCOL was making a significant contribution to its learners by
providing opportunities to improve on their grades in order to pursue further studies or to seek
employment.