‘NO FREE EDUCATION IN SWAZILAND’

MBABANE – Swaziland does not yet have absolutely free primary school education.

An elaborate analysis by the Times SUNDAY has established that as a matter of fact, the country’s primary education is actually subsidised, as opposed to it being free.

For one, pupils in some schools run out of school textbooks in the first term, forcing parents and guardians to fork out money to buy material that will last for the next two terms.
On top of that, parents still have the duty to buy school uniform and cover transport costs for their children.

The money to run the schools is not enough as government fixed school fees for each child at E80 from Grade One to Grade VII (Standard Five).
The E80 is a portion of the E560 in total, which a child gets from government to meet the costs for free primary education.
This is reflected in the Free Primary Education Act of 2010.

For seven years, the fee has remained at E80.
The salary allocation for groundsmen or labourers is not provided for in the law. The law also does not provide funding for toiletry.
There are currently about 600 primary schools, including private ones in Swaziland.

The Ministry of Education and Training, in its report on Education for All, which Minister Phineas Magagula submitted to UNESCO’s regional office in Zimbabwe on April 2015, projects an enrolment of 247 771 primary school pupils in 2015.
This translates to a budget of E138.7 million per annum for all primary schools in Swaziland, excluding the textbooks. 
UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

In the financial year under review, the Ministry of Education and Training received E2.9 billion from the E15.9 billion national budget tabled in Parliament by Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini on February 27, 2015.
Meanwhile, a disgruntled head teacher, who declined to have his name mentioned, complained that government also failed to provide funding for some of the subjects in the primary school curriculum.
He said the subjects which did not receive funding were computer studies and physical education.

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