Higher Education Minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi said there is a need for an academic research taskforce. She said there’s need for an inter-institutions task force of academics to research and augment national efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Namibia. Murangi said this during the launch of a high-level inter-universities research taskforce on COVID-19 at the Communication Centre today. The minister said the virus brought immense challenges and disruptions to the planned educational activities. Therefore, the ministry and other stakeholders met to assess how to deal with the pandemic in the education sector. She advised NSFAF-funded students to use their non-tuition funds to acquire the necessary gadgets for e-learning offered by institutions during this pandemic. “Use the money productively,” she said. However, it has engaged Telecom, Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) and other IT institutions to establish how they can be assisted. Murangi also pointed out that the institutions have agreed on allowing time for remedial teaching.