Pupils in Swaziland /
eSwatini are being forced to work as groundsmen at their primary school because
the government has not paid grants it owes.
The children at Vulamehlo
pick up paper, cut grass and sweep the school yard. The work used to be down by
a groundsman but he lost his job because the school could not pay him. This is
because like other schools across the kingdom it has not received free primary
education (FPE) grants from the government.
Vulamehlo is also not
serving meals to the pupils as the school did not have funds to pay school
staff, deputy headteacher Cynthia
Dlamini told the Times of Swaziland.
She said, ‘We have not
received FPE grants yet and this has resulted in our groundsman leaving the
school as we have failed to pay him. In the meantime, pupils perform the duties
of the groundsman.’
Public services across
Swaziland, where King Mswati III rules as an absolute monarch, are in
meltdown. The Swazi Government,
which is not elected but handpicked by the King is broke and owes suppliers
about E3 billion (US$215 million).
More than
six in ten schools in Swaziland do not have enough teachers because of
government financial cutbacks, the Eswatini
Principals Association (EPA) President Welcome Mhlanga has said.
Government needs to find
E151.9 million for the primary schools across the kingdom to fund FPE. There
are about 650 primary schools in Swaziland. The Swazi Constitution requires
that all children in the kingdom receive free primary education. There are about
330,000 pupils at school in Swaziland, including about 240,000 at primary
schools.
Schoolchildren across
Swaziland have been going hungry because the government has not paid suppliers
for food under the zondle programme feeding scheme. This has been the case for more
than a year. In the past schools have been forced to close because of the
shortages.
See also
Chaos
and confusion across Swaziland as new school year starts
Armed
police deployed in schools across Swaziland to ensure exams take place during
teacher pay dispute
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/10/armed-police-deployed-in-schools-across.html
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