The Okatana Senior Secondary School at Ekuku Okatana in the Oshakati Circuit has moved from position 50 to third in the national senior secondary and AS level ratings last year.

The school is also ranked number one in the Oshana Region.

The school principal, Markus Hango, attributed the improved ranking to working smarter and harder in 2024.

The school does not tolerate bullying, ill-discipline, or absenteeism and enforces strict discipline and moral standards, which create a conducive environment at the school.

"To highlight some of the strengths that might have led to this good performance, to start with the recruitment of our staff members, specifically teachers, we ensure that whenever we have a post, we select the best teachers from the pool of applications. The other thing is discipline, so our school is known to be one of the most disciplined schools."

The other strength is covering the syllabus on time, with teachers going the extra mile, offering extra classes after school, and teaching on weekends and holidays.

"We also spent much of our time after syllabi were covered looking at examination reports, and teachers took learners through them in order to identify errors in the past and also do more revisions."

The school also carries out proper monitoring of teaching and learning on a daily basis, and they ensure that learners attend school and that teachers are doing their work effectively.

"One more thing is we collaborate with institutions of higher learning like HP Campus and Dose Edward Do Santos in Ongwediva. Sometimes we visit them to make use of their facilities like laboratories and also expertise like their human resources, especially with science or mathematics subjects. There are times when we take our children to those institutions, and sometimes we even invite lecturers to come."

Hango says the school is Christian-orientated, and learners in the hostel attend a church service every Sunday and holy mass every Friday, because they believe that one needs the blessing of the Lord to succeed in whatever they do.

The school was established in 1932 by missionaries and currently accommodates 804 learners from Grades 8 to 12.

All the Grade 12s at the school are accommodated in the hostel at the Okatana Roman Catholic mission for proper care and guidance.

This year the school will be working harder than before to scoop position number one nationally at the advanced level.