The Minister of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture, Sanet Steenkamp, said N$50 million allocated to creative industries is expected to generate approximately 500 jobs and host the Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAs).
Steenkamp said this during her ministry's budget motivation for over N$28 billion.
She noted that while the development budget is N$588 million, which represents 2.1% of the total allocation, the ministry aims to maintain gains in improved access to all levels of the education system. This will be achieved through the provision of classrooms, school feeding, stationery and textbooks, teaching and learning materials, and the payment of universal school grants.
"The 9.6% increase is intended to cover the following priorities. The amount of N$1.1 billion is allocated to pre-primary, an increase of 26% compared to the previous financial year. This will be used to intensify training of teachers, as well as the design and development of the Early Childhood Development curriculum and the training of 400 educators countrywide. We will also continue feeding 51,000 children at ECD centres at a cost of N$30 million."
Primary education receives the largest share of the education budget at N$11.8 billion.
"There are currently 620,000 learners in the primary phase, which constitutes 67% of the learner population. These learners are taught by 22,742 teachers. Consequently, the majority of the budget allocation to primary education is absorbed by teachers' salaries and benefits. We will also use this budget for strategic interventions, such as the rollout of our national numeracy roadmap on foundational skills. As part of the ministry's Ending Learning Poverty campaign, we will continue to strengthen foundational learning and build our teachers' capacity in the area of learning support and early identification of learning difficulties."
The ministry has also set aside N$6 million for Notesmaster Senior Primary Digital Content Development through NAMCOL.
"Our foundational levels remain a matter of concern, esteemed Honourable Members, as only 34% of Grade 3 learners achieved basic numeracy in 2025, while literacy declined to 25%. These results highlight persistent learning gaps and regional disparities. In response, the ministry will intensify teacher development, expand teaching and learning materials, and roll out early-grade mathematics and reading assessments in all local languages. Honourable Members, the allocation to secondary education is increased by 6.7% to N$5.3 billion, of which the salaries for 7,297 teachers and 3,461 support staff amount to N$3.816 billion."