Namibia has decided to begin with providing free education in universities and tertiary institutions from year 2026. The newly elected Namibian President – Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has made this decision and announced on Thursday that her government will introduce free higher education at state universities and technical colleges starting next year.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, sworn in as Namibia’s first female leader last month and made the announcement while delivering her State of the Nation speech to Parliament. She declared, “I am pleased to announce that from the next academic year, commencing in 2026, tertiary education will become 100% subsidized by the government.
Moreover, Namibia has already provided free education in public elementary and high schools. Though the parents of the children still typically have to pay for school uniforms, stationery, books, including hostel fees too.
The new policy will initiate to remove tuition and registration fees at the universities and colleges. The officials have been calling for years, for all levels of education, that needs to be subsidized by the government in the country, consisting of around 3 million people in Southern Africa.
Nandi-Ndaitwah further stated that she with her federation team have heard cries of the people. She said that the policy specifically aims at improving opportunities for young people amid problems of youth, mainly unemployment and poverty.
As per the official figures recorded via survey data, around 2.1 million Namibians are under the age of 35.
Notably, two universities out of seven universities of Namibia are running under state guidance and will offer education with upgraded skills under the recently introduced policy. Majorly, all of its seven vocational training centers are run officially by the government of Namibia. Also, it will no longer charge for tuition fees from the students.
In order to boost employment, Namibia will begin discussions this year on the development of a nuclear energy plant, said the president. The oil and gas sector has been moved under the Presidency to accelerate first oil production and support infrastructure development. On Thursday, April 24, 2025 SONA marked the first day by Nandi-Ndaitwah since she assumed the office as the fifth president of the country in March 2025.