Upgrading of colleges to university status neglected

Sir,

I have been thinking about the open letter to the Prime Minister which was published on August 2, 2013 under ‘Comments and Analysis’ titled ‘Cabinet did well but neglected education’,  written by Edward Dlamini. 

First of all, when I read the letter, I had not yet read the cabinet report. I then took my time to read it thoroughly and in particular what was said about the Ministry of Education.

Yes, I also agree with the writer that indeed this cabinet did a commendable job. I also agree that they may not have satisfied everybody in their work, but at least they have for the first time published their report for everybody to read and make their comments. I think this has to be noted.
However, like Edward Dlamini, I do concur that our education system was neglected on the part of upgrading the colleges to university status.

Indeed, the King and chancellor of the University of Swaziland did promise that the colleges were to be upgraded to university status so that they can also offer degrees. We heard him during the graduation and we believe that when His Majesty the King speaks in any gathering he actually speaks to the nation at large.

We also believe that once the King has said something, it remains the responsibility of the relevant ministries to implement his wishes. In this case, the Ministry of Education should have done something. The King said this in 2009 and four years down the line nothing has been done. We also thought that since the colleges are affiliated to the university, it would not be difficult to implement his wishes.

Remain

I also have a concern about our children who finish school and remain at home just because there is no space at our only university.
I, therefore, do not understand why the ministry or the university decided not to consider the King’s wish. I want to believe that such a wish was made after consideration of the problem being faced by the country due to having only one university.

I wish to challenge the next cabinet and parliament to consider this issue very seriously.  What will happen to the children who remain home even though they qualify for admission to the university and are left out due to lack of space? Each and every year, the number of such school leavers increases and what will happen 10 years from now? We are looking towards 2022 to be a first world country. I can assure you that if nothing is done about the issue of the school leavers to create opportunities to train themselves; we should rather forget about being a first world country. Instead, the country will be having a lot of learned criminals and thugs. Life would be miserable for some of the population that would be tormented by the people who would be without work but doing all they can to make a living from the few with qualifications. We need to be realistic about this situation, otherwise, the country will regret this.

Perhaps the Minister of Education and the cabinet at large did not see any reason to deliberate on this issue since their children had other options for further training. If that is the case, it is unfair. However, since the cabinet is still in office, and the Prime Minister requested for comments, may I request the minister of education or the Prime minister to explain to the nation why this issue seems to have been neglected. If the university refused to take the colleges, I think the council can also tell us the reasons why. I think the two bodies owe the nation an explanation. Maybe the king meant 10 years to come that is 2019; we need to get clarification.

Aware

Meanwhile, the country needs additional tertiary institutions to offer degrees. I am aware that the medical university has already started operating. Not all school leavers want to do medicine or anything related to that. In fact, even before the university started, we had some students enrolling for medicine in South Africa and other countries. Even if more students would be interested in medicine, they would still be more without space.

The country should not spend money on free primary education and not consider what would happen once the pupils have completed their high school education. If we neglect that, the country would be wasting money.

The country needs to plan ahead as to what will happen to the school leavers, how it would increase the human resource from the young ones. Let us consider adding a university to the existing one in order to absorb all our students that need to do degree courses.
 
 Jabulani Dlamini

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