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OPEN LETTER TO MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

03/02/2020 07:53:00 Editor

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I have been reading the print media, listening to the Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services (EBIS) and watching Eswatini TV.

In all these media houses you get advertisements for tertiary institutions inviting applicants to enroll in their institutions for diploma or degree programmes. My main concern is that these institutions call themselves either a university college or just a university. They claim that they are registered with the Eswatini Higher Education Council (ESHEC). The question I have is, when does an institution qualify to be a university in Eswatini?

I have taken my time to visit some of these institutions and got surprised that some of their premises do not look like you are next to a university. I can name some in Manzini and Mbabane but I will not do so now. These institutions claim that they have been given permission by ESHEC to operate as universities and we, as the public, do not understand why because in some of them, the classes seem to be substandard in terms of size. In some of them there seems to be no full-time qualified teaching staff and they do programmes that need space for agriculture practicals and home economics and science laboratories. However, there is not enough land and appropriate laboratories for these subjects. Can you say a kitchen is a science laboratory, a small garden formerly used for a residential plot is a tertiary institution garden? In Manzini, there is one university that operates in a structure that used to be a clinic before.

The rooms used by patients for sleeping are now classrooms. Is it really true that they are known and registered by ESHEC in line with the existing Act? When you visit the ESHEC website you can download a document on ‘Credible Institutions in Eswatini’. The document indicates a list of 83 institutions that applied for registration since 2017. The document also states that by the end of 2019, 42 institutions had been assessed and 35 of these institutions have been granted recognition; whatever recognition means? Furthermore, it is says 32 institutions were granted provisional authority to establish and operate according to Section 19 of the Higher Education Act.

Information

Surprisingly, this information is telling the world that in Eswatini, our national university, UNESWA, and other old institutions are not credible. Seemingly the credible institutions are those that have opened shop in the country recently. Even the three that are said to be waiting for the council’s approval have just been established. Now is the time for our school-leavers to seek institutions to further their education at tertiary level. The available information online indicates very few credible institutions in the country. Can the Ministry of Education and Training come out clearly on the issue of the institutions we have had for decades before the new ones arrived, whether they are still credible or not. What is the responsibility of the Higher Education Council in this regard; are they not supposed to screen and recommend to the public institutions that can be used by emaSwati?

We have also noted the same ministry closing schools almost every year that do not satisfy certain standards for the teaching and learning process. Perhaps the local and old institutions no longer satisfy the requirements for offering those courses. If that is the case, why doesn’t the ministry say so as it does with schools? Is government supporting institutions that do not deserve that?

The public needs to be educated about the interpretation of the Act if there were any amendments. We, therefore, need to be made aware, publicly, what is it that is considered for one to start a university in the country. We do have old institutions in the land such as the College of Technology in Mbabane, Ngwane College in Nhlangano, William Pitcher college in Manzini and VOCTIM in Matsapha. Don’t these institutions qualify to be universities? They all have defined premises and you do not doubt that they are institutions of higher learning, but they are still colleges.

His Majesty, in 2017, mentioned that Ngwane was to be upgraded to be a university the following year during the 50/50 celebrations. Nothing has happened so far. What is it that is missing? Not even to say whether Ngwane is a credible institution or what. The ESHEC is just quiet. Is the Higher Education Council serving the country or themselves? Meanwhile, a number of universities are mushrooming left and right and centre with the permission of ESHEC, so they claim. Can ESHEC come out clear as to what is lacking with our local institutions because the public is not aware.

Bentangani laba labavunyelwa kuba nema universities kube kungabonakali nekutsi basebentela kuphi? To make things worse, some do not have qualified staff or specialists. I think the ministry needs to do something in this area as it also does the same with schools. With schools, the ministry does a very good job. Please assist us also with the tertiary sector. Akuhambi kahle e-tertiary. Perhaps we need an independent audited report about these institutions to find out if indeed they do qualify to be what they claim to be. ESHEC should come out clean in this because some of us smell a rat here. Really, some of these tertiary institutions do not qualify according to the Higher Education Act requirements, but they are operating and said to be credible in the country. We want to request the Ministry of Education and Training to say something on this so that we can know what is right or wrong with our tertiary institutions.