SCHOLARSHIPS CUT ‘ATTACKS POOR’

The Swazi Government’s decision to offer only 500 scholarships for students at the University of Swaziland, instead of the usual 1,200, is an attack on the poor, a leading pro-democracy campaigner in the kingdom says.

Musa Hlophe, writing in the Times Sunday newspaper today (14 August 2011), says, ‘Scholarships are awarded (or are supposed to be awarded) to the bright students of impoverished parents.

‘So, what we are seeing is an attack on the poor,’ Hlophe, who heads the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations,writes.

‘The dumb children of the rich and the well-connected will be able to get diplomas and degrees while the smarter sons and daughters of the poor will be left to fend for themselves, and in Swaziland we know what that means: sugar daddies, multiple partners, poverty, illness and an early death for the girls and the life of a tsotsi [criminal] for the boys.’

He goes on, ‘To cut the number of students who are able to go to university is pro-poverty and anti-poor. It is also against the agreement that the Minister for Education reached with the students in March of this year (2011).

‘If you remember, he withdrew his proposed scholarship policy in favour of proper consultation with both students and their parents. What happened to that?’

To read the full article, click here.

See also

MONEY CUT SO UNISWA STAYS CLOSED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/08/money-cut-so-uniswa-stays-closed.html