EU CUTS UMBILICAL CORD ON FPE

NHLANGANO – From next year onwards, government will lose a secure financial support for Grade I pupils enrolled in about 592 primary schools countrywide.

After giving a financial lifeline of about E140 million, covering a period of eight years, the European Union has left government to take full responsibility for Free Primary Education (FPE) funding.

The decision by the trade bloc to stop its funding under the Support to Education and Training (SET) Programme, was communicated to head teachers from the Shiselweni Region yesterday, raising fears of an uncertain future. Making the shattering pronouncement

yesterday was EU Ambassador to Eswatini Esmeralda Hernandez Aragones, during the Free Primary Education Grants Signing Ceremony, which was held in Nhlangano.

Representing government at the ceremony was Minister of Education and Training Phineas Magagula and his counterpart at the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development Prince Hlangusemphi, who described his ministry as government’s lead agency for development cooperation and its key interlocutor with development partners.

During her address on the day, the European envoy, Aragones, relayed the chronology of events leading to the eventual funding of Grade I pupils countrywide by the EU in 2010. She highlighted that the EU was proud to have partnered with government under the SET project dating back to 2005, where the bloc was paying for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs).

Then, in 2010 when government took the giant step to pay school fees for all children in primary education, as per the requirement of the Constitution, she said the financial support changed to grants that were aimed at paying fees for all Grade I pupils until 2016.

After the initial period elapsed, the financial support was extended for a further two years, which is currently in its final year – 2018.
As she made the harsh reminder that the financial support was coming to an end, the EU Ambassador, however, made the undertaking that her organisation would continue to maintain good relations with the kingdom.

“Let me clarify that the EU is not pulling out of the education sector, but it is the SET project that has come to an end. Our support will continue under the Social Protection Project targeting Early Child Care and Education,” she pledged. As the EU passed the bait over to government, the ambassador banked hopes that the Free Primary Education initiative would be sustained to ensure continued access to education for the country’s children.

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