Private as well as public
schools in Swaziland are to be forced to conduct lessons in siSwati, the mother
tongue of Swazi people, and applicants to universities and tertiary colleges
will be made to take an application test in the language.
This follows an edict from
Swaziland’s unelected Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini.
The unexpected announcement
is already causing confusing in education circles in the kingdom ruled by King
Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
The Times of
Swaziland reported that
Dlamini told a gathering to mark International Mother Language Day on Wednesday
(22 February 2017), ‘In all public and private primary schools in Swaziland, up
to and including Grade IV, a child’s education will be conducted in siSwati.
‘In the later grades of
primary education, and in all high schools, siSwati will be one of the
compulsory subjects in the curriculum. And before admission to tertiary
education, all applicants will be required to take a competency test in
siSwati.’
Later, Phineas Magagula,
the Swaziland Minister of Education and Training, clarified the PM’s statement. Magagula said Swaziland was not doing away with
other languages in schools but siSwati would be a core subject.
Later, in a further clarification, the Prime Minister said the new policy would not
be implemented overnight. The Ministry of Education would appoint a ‘siSwati
Board’ to oversee it, he said.
There is still no
clarification about the role of siSwati in colleges and universities. If the
language is compulsory it would almost certainly made it impossible for
students from outside Swaziland to enrol for programmes.
See also
KING’S
ROLE IN SCHOOLS CHAOS IGNORED
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/02/kings-role-in-schools-chaos-ignored.html
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