Times Of Swaziland: GOVT AGREES TO HIRE MORE TEACHERS, HEAD TEACHERS GOVT AGREES TO HIRE MORE TEACHERS, HEAD TEACHERS ================================================================================ BY PHIWASE PHUNGWAYO on 14/10/2021 09:00:00 MANZINI – Government has given in to one of the demands of the protesting pupils by approving the filling of vacancies in learning institutions in the country. These include teachers, head teachers, regional education officers (REOs), lecturers and principals of colleges. The approval was confirmed on Tuesday during a Cabinet sitting. This was revealed by Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko during the Ministry of Education and Training meeting with school stakeholders at Mfanyana Hall in Manzini yesterday. Vacancies He said where there were vacancies of head teachers, government would soon fill them. Maseko said government had approved the employment of two REOs in Manzini and Lubombo. He said although he had no figures of the lecturers and principals who would be hired, vacancies would be filled at William Pitcher Training College and Ngwane Teachers’ Training College. He mentioned that head teachers of both primary and high schools would also be hired. On teachers, he said the ministry had an audit that found that, about 730 teachers were in surplus and underutilised. He said they would be re-deployed to other schools. Maseko said the ministry would have a waiver for the employment of teachers because it was controlling the Wage Bill. He highlighted, however, that there were financial challenges. Maseko said due to that properties were damaged in the country, this led to a lot of businesses that brought revenue being affected. The minister said this meant tax was reduced and negatively affected the country in that investors were not secure.