The Education Director of Kavango West, Pontianus Musore, has stated that the directorate is dedicated to ensuring equal access to quality education for learners with special educational needs, even in the face of ongoing resource challenges.

This year, the Directorate of Education in the Kavango West Region has enrolled 181 learners with special educational needs in specialised education programmes, compared to 107 learners recorded during the 2025 academic year.

"The region has two schools with specialised units. Kahenge Combined School provides Learning Support and Intellectual Impairment programmes, while Leevi Hakusembe Senior Secondary School offers the Basic Pre-Vocational Skills Programme for learners with learning difficulties. At Kahenge Combined School, 35 learners are enrolled in the Learning Support Unit, while 17 learners with intellectual impairments are registered in the Intellectual Impairment Unit. However, due to limited space, 16 learners are on the waiting list for admission to the Intellectual Impairment Unit at Kahenge Combined School for the 2027 academic year."

Meanwhile, 129 learners are enrolled in the Basic Pre-Vocational Skills Programme at Leevi Hakusembe Senior Secondary School.

Although all schools are expected to implement the National Inclusive Education Policy, the directorate says only these two schools currently offer specialised support programmes due to limited resources.

Learner dropout among this group remains low, with only three learners dropping out this year at Kahenge Combined School and none at Leevi Hakusembe Senior Secondary School.

Among the key challenges affecting service delivery are shortages of trained special education teachers, inadequate specialist support services, inaccessible infrastructure such as hostels and classrooms, limited assistive learning materials, poverty, and long travelling distances for learners.

Despite these challenges, the directorate plans to expand access to inclusive education, strengthen teacher capacity, improve accessibility, and introduce a Basic Pre-Vocational Agriculture Programme at Kahenge Combined School this academic year.