The European Union (EU) pays the government the fees
but they have not been passed on to the schools, the Observer on Saturday newspaper in Swaziland reported (23 June
2018). The second term of the school year is just coming to an end.
The Swaziland Constitution requires that all primary
school children receive free education.
The Observer
reported headteachers and principals across Swaziland said they were in huge
debts and unable to pay suppliers. It said the problem was with the government
which faced financial challenges. It reported one school principal saying
education in the kingdom would continue to deteriorate if the situation did not
improve. Teacher morale is low. Because of a lack of government funding
children are going without free meals at school and this is often the only meal
they get.
Schools across Swaziland have been in chaos since at least the start the
year. High schools as well as primaries have been affected. Children were
turned away from high schools because there were no spaces for them in classes.
This was because the kingdom has in recent years introduced free primary school
education. Now children have graduated there are not enough places in secondary
schools. Parents were reported by local media to be walking from school to
school in unsuccessful attempts to get their children placed.
In January 2018 the Ministry of Education refused to pay school fees to
about half the 650 primary schools in Swaziland because pupils did not have
personal identification numbers (PINs). The Ministry said to avoid audit
queries it had to pay fees against a PIN not a name of a pupil.
Parents are also outraged that some primary schools are charging top-up
fees when the Swazi Constitution and Government policy says primary education
should be free.
Swaziland, is ruled by King Mswati III as sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections
and the King appoints the Prime Minister and top ministers. Seven in ten of the
estimated 1.1 million population live in abject poverty with incomes less than
US$2 per day.
The kingdom’s economy has been mismanaged for decades. Swaziland cannot
afford to pay for its free primary education policy. Government pays E580 per
child, but this is heavily
subsidised by the European Union (EU). Up to December 2016, the
EU had spent a total amount of E110 million (about US$8 million). In 2015, it
reportedly sponsored 34,012 learners in 591 schools. The EU plans to continue
paying for the school fees until the end of 2018. The EU started funding all
first grade pupils in the whole country in 2011.
The problem does not end at primary level. An investigation by the Swazi Observer (27 January 2018)
revealed that some high schools charged nearly E9,000 per child per year in
top-up fees. It also found (1 February 2018) that some schools were not
allowing children, including OVCs (orphaned and vulnerable children) to attend
classes until deposits on fees were paid.
The Ministry of Education then announced that no school in Swaziland had
been given permission to charge top-up fees because none had made the necessary
formal request to do so. Permission can take up to a year.
The Swaziland national budget has been mismanaged for years. Swaziland is broke and the government is living
from hand to mouth. Earlier this month Finance
Minister Martin Dlamini told the House of Assembly as of 31 March 2018 government owed E3.28 billion.
Dlamini said budget projections indicated ‘exponential growth in the arrears’.
Despite the funding crisis, the Swazi Government still
found US$30
million to buy the King a
second private plane. It has also earmarked E1.5bn (US$125m) this year to build
a conference centre and five-star hotel to host the
African Union summit in 2020
that will last only eight days and it has budgeted E5.5 million to build Prime
Minister Barnabas Dlamini a retirement house. There are also plans for a new
parliament building that will cost E2.3 billion.
The excessive lifestyle of
King Mswati has also been under the spotlight. He now has two private planes,
13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars.
He wore a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit
beaded with diamonds weighing 6 kg, at his 50th birthday party. He received E15 million (US$1.2 million) in cheques, a
gold dining room suite and a gold
lounge suite among his birthday gifts.
Meanwhile, the
World
Food Program has said it cannot raise the US$1.1 million it needs to
feed starving children in the kingdom in the coming six months.
See also
END OF
FREE SWAZI PRIMARY SCHOOLING
KING
EATS OFF GOLD, CHILDREN STARVING
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/king-eats-off-gold-children-starving.html
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