Nehale Senior Secondary School is a public school in Onayena,

Oshikoto Region Oshikoto is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, named after Lake Otjikoto. Its capital is Omuthiya. Further major settlements in the region are Tsumeb, Otjikoto's capital until 2008, and Oniipa. , Oshikoto had 112,170 registered voters. Ge ...

, Namibia. Established in 1976, it is among the oldest secondary schools in the region. Nehale SSS is named after

Nehale Mpingana Nehale lyaMpingana (c. 1850 – April 14, 1908) was the King of the Ondonga people, a subtribe of the Ovambo, in German South West Africa. Their tribal area is situated around Namutoni on the eastern edge of Etosha pan in today's northern Namibia ...

, king of the

Ondonga Ondonga is a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people in what is today northern Namibia. Its capital is Ondangwa, and the kingdom's palace is at Onambango. Its people call themselves ''Aandonga''. They speak the Ndonga dialect. The Ondonga kingdom ...

. The school is located at Onayena, approximately 20 kilometres east of

Ondangwa Ondangwa (earlier spelling ''Ondangua'') is a town in the Oshana Region of northern Namibia, bordering the Oshikoto Region. It had a population of 30,364 people in 2023. Ondangwa was first established as a mission station of the Finnish Missi ...

. It has a history of exceptional performance with the highest pass rate in the region and the second best preferred school in the region after Oshigambo High School. Nehale Secondary School is also a cluster centre to the schools in Onayena. It is part of Onathinge education cluster.

Current State

The school was established during the colonial era and has not seen major renovations since then. The school obtains most of its funding from the government. This is generally not sufficient to cover running school expenses. Its facilities are thus dilapidated. A broken sewerage system, lack of accommodation for teachers, inadequate laboratory facilities and the lack of a hall are the major challenges. In 2020, the school was hard hit by the

COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia The COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The Minister of Health and Social Services, Kalumbi Shangula, announced on 1 ...

leading to an indefinitely suspension of teaching and learning at the School by the directorate of education as over 170 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported.

Notable alumni

The following people have attended or taught at Nehale Senior Secondary: *

Peya Mushelenga Samuel Abraham Peyavali "Peya" Mushelenga (born September 1, 1975, in Oshigambo, Ovamboland) is a Namibian politician and poet. He is broadly educated, holding fourteen academic qualifications from seven different universities. A member of SWAP ...

, Cabinet Minister of the Republic of Namibia *

Johannes Nakwafila Johannes Kamati Nakwafila (born 28 August 1957 in Ohangwena Region) is a Namibian politician. A teacher by profession, he has been a member of the National Council of Namibia since 2004 and Regional Councillor for Epembe Constituency since 1999. E ...

, Namibian politician who served as

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

Party Councillor for

Epembe Constituency Epembe is a constituency in the Ohangwena Region of northern Namibia. It had 6,489 registered voters . The constituency covers an area of . The constituency office is located in Epembe. The constituency had a population of 16,229 in 2011, up f ...

* Tunakie, Namibian multiple award-winning musician

List of schools in Nehale Cluster

* Uuyoka Combined School * Oniihwa Combined School * Onayena Junior Secondary School * Oniiwe Primary School * Onayena Primary School * Joseph Simaneka Asino Secondary school * Matheus Nashandi Combined School

References

Schools in Oshikoto Region Educational institutions established in 1976 Boarding schools in Namibia 1976 establishments in South West Africa {{Namibia-school-stub