Ohangwena Governor Kadiva Hamutumwa has reiterated calls on Namibians to seek help and express their emotions as a means to reduce suicide.

Three teachers, Nestory Namhido, who was a teacher at Eenhana Secondary School; Titus Nuuyi, a teacher at Enyana Combined School; and Lukas Kalwenya from the Ohehonge Combined School, committed suicide on the 19th and 22nd of this month, respectively.

All these schools are in Ohangwena, and its governor has said the region will engage and chart the way forward in creating awareness about suicide prevention interventions.

"We would like to call upon this nation to take this as a serious matter. We need to deploy more social workers and more psychological officers into our regions and into the constituencies. People are finding it difficult to deal with the socioeconomic pressures that they are actually experiencing on a daily basis, and if we do not take this as a national crisis, we will be burying one of our young people, professionals, or public servants every single day due to pressures that we are experiencing in society." 

Earlier on, the Minister of Education, Innovation, Youth, Arts, and Culture requested the nation to break the stigma and cultural barriers around mental health and to ensure no one suffers in silence.

Sanet Steenkamp emphasised the urgent need for comprehensive mental health support and financial literacy education for teachers to reduce suicide incidents. 

Steenkamp announced that the ministry will collaborate with the Ministry of Health and Social Services to increase mental health awareness. 

In addition, the Ministry of Finance has developed extensive financial literacy training materials and will be engaged to ascertain how to better equip teachers with skills to manage their financial resources effectively. 

Last year, 16 teachers committed suicide.