Swazi PM misleads on education standards
Kenworthy News Media, February 15, 2013
“Prime Minister Dr
Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini says the outstanding performance by the Swazi team in the World Schools Debate
Championships (WSDC) shows that the country’s education standard ranks high in
the world,” the Swazi government writes on its official website, writes Kenworthy News
Media.
The WSDC is an annual debating tournament for high
school-level teams representing different English-speaking countries. Swaziland
finished runners up to Australia this year in what was the “biggest upset in
the world debate circles”, according to Waterford Kamhlaba United World
College, the college that the Swazi debating team attend.
According to Waterford Kamhlaba United World College,
“Swaziland debating can continue to grow to new heights and be able to continue
to inspire other people, especially those in the rural parts of Swaziland, to
join debating.”
But Swaziland is ranked 140th in the world according to
the UNDP HDI Education Index,
contradicting the statements by the PM, and according to a Working Paper from
the World Bank called The Education System in Swaziland, “key weaknesses pertain
to low access uneven and inequitable quality, acute inequalities, resource
inefficiency, poor relevance and weak strategic direction and delivery
capacity.”
As for the freedom to use ones education for meaningful
debating, one can hope with Nelson Mandela that the freedom that education can
help bring about will also prevail in Swaziland. “It is my hope that … children
will be able to experience the freedom that education brings,” Mandela, who
sent his daughters Zenani and Zindzi to Waterford Kamhlaba United World
College, says on
the schools website.
But for any true freedom to pursue a proper debating
culture in Swaziland to take root, the absolute monarchy of King Mswati III
will have to allow some manner of freedom of speech, unbanning of political parties
and democratisation.
According to Freedom House, “constitutional rights to free expression
[in Swaziland] are severely restricted in practice and can be suspended by the
king. Publishing criticism of the ruling family is banned. Self-censorship is
widespread, as journalists are routinely threatened and attacked by the
authorities … The government restricts freedoms of assembly and association,
and permission to hold political gatherings is frequently denied.”
See also
EDUCATION BOSS BACKS EDUCATION LIES
No comments:
Post a Comment