Times Of Swaziland: GOVT PAYS IDLE TEACHERS AS SITC SHUTS DOWN

GOVT PAYS IDLE TEACHERS AS SITC SHUTS DOWN
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 BY KHULEKANI NENE on 01/03/2019 03:44:00


SITEKI – For close to 10 months, government has been paying salaries to idle
teachers following the shutdown of SITC.
SITC is the Siteki Industrial Training Centre, a vocational training centre
which is a sister institution to Manzini Industrial Training Centre (MITC).
The institution reportedly shut down in May last year, reportedly due to
disagreements between government and the Swaziland Skills Centres, the holding
entity of SITC.
According to sources close to the institution’s administration, the centre was
forced to shut down after its coffers ran dry due to a decision by government to
withhold its annual subvention.
Since then, the institution which offered several programmes in agriculture,
sewing, motor mechanic and welding, ceased to operate. Staff members who were on
the institution’s payroll, were forced to stop reporting for work since there
were no funds for their remuneration, a former staff member said. However, about
eight teachers employed by government, who were attached to the institution,
have remained within its premises.
The teachers, who were referred to as instructors at the centre, are employed by
the Teaching Service Commission (TSC).
“They are still waiting for a way forward from their employer. Only those who
were employed by the institution have left,” said a former instructor at the
centre. The teachers are said to be willing to work but there were no students
following that the institution did not admit new students at the beginning of
the year.
Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education and Training, Dr Sibongile
Mtshali, confirmed that disagreements between government and the Swaziland
Skills Centre were the reason behind the shutdown of the institution.
“The issues which caused MITC to shut down are similar to those which forced
SITC to also close shop,” Mtshali said.
She added that government had invited directors of the Swaziland Skills Centre
to the negotiation table but the directors had allegedly been reluctant.
“We have since decided that, since they are a private entity, they must go
ahead and operate on their own,” Mtshali stated.