SNAT AGAINST MINISTRY’S PLAN TO REOPEN SCHOOLS

MBABANE – SNAT is not in agreement with government on the proposed reopening of schools and it has vowed to discourage its members from reporting for duty if the proposed plan goes ahead. 

This will be the case if government fails to meet the conditions that will tick all the boxes for the safe return of teachers and pupils to schools.

This comes after the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) documented a proposed reopening schedule starting on February 16, 2021 for teachers to report to work in preparation for the reopening of schools this year.

According to the schedule, February 23, 2021 is the proposed reopening date of all grades. 

However, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) said there was nothing substantive that had been discussed by the MoET with them regarding the proposed dates of reopening. 

In fact, the association’s Secretary General, Sikelela Dlamini, said they would meet the ministry tomorrow to confirm the authenticity of the document and if the ministry confirmed, they would table new demands on the safe reopening of schools and that would be determined by the ministry’s eagerness to go ahead with its proposed plan.

Demands 

He said part of the demands would be to have teachers included on the list of the prioritised group in the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. 

Dlamini’s argument was that schools could be classifed as superspreaders and if the teachers, together with frontline workers, were not prioritised in the first phase of the vaccine rollout, then that would not make reopening of schools safe and ideal. 

However, he added that if government met all the conditions that would tick all the boxes on the safe reopening of schools, then teachers would go back to work. 

“It is too early to deliberate on the proposed reopening schedule because we are yet to confirm the authenticity of the document with the ministry. However, if the ministry confirms the document and it goes according to their proposed plan, then we will not encourage our members to go to work,” he said. 

Dlamini said if government was eager to continue with its proposed plan, they (SNAT) would be compelled to consider other options to stop the progress of the reopening of schools on the proposed dates if they felt their members were not safe.  

“You will recall that last year, we went to court and we were victorious, and if push comes to shove on this matter, we will consider other options to ensure that government does not go ahead with its proposed plan if they do not meet the conditions that we will forward to them next week,” he submitted. 

Dlamini confirmed knowledge of some of the contents of the document as he said they were engaged by the ministry on it. 

However, he made it known that they had not agreed on the proposed dates slated on the document. 

“We totally disassociate ourselves from this so-called plan by few individuals from the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). We’ll be meeting with the MoET tomorrow,” reads a statement from the association. 

SNAT said the ministry engaged them on the proposed schedule but the document was prematurely presented to Cabinet. 

“We confirm some of the contents in the document except the proposed dates. Those issues are still on the table and have not been finalised. We still await an explanation from MoET as to where they got that,” he said. 

Displeasure 

When contacted on the matter, Minister Lady Mabuza expressed displeasure in the way the matter was handled. 

She submitted that this was not an official document, but the first step towards the reopening of schools and the dates were nothing but a suggestion that the ministry submitted to Cabinet. 

“Honestly, this is very disappointing as things have been blown out of proportion. This was simply the ministry’s first step towards reopening schools and nothing in that document is official. 

“Honestly, I have nothing to say with regard to the document, save to say that people will not take me seriously now. 

“This was not supposed to be in the public domain in the first place as it is still in its infancy stage,” she lamented. 

Eswatini joins South Africa (SA) in proposing to reopen schools this month. In a gazette published last month, SA Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga indicated that the return of pupils in SA would be staggered, with private school pupils allowed to return to school two weeks earlier than their public school counterparts. 

The gazette depicted that private schools would return on February 1 while all public school grades would return on February 15. 

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