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32 SCHOOLS SELECTED TO PILOT FOUR-YEAR PROGRAMME

31/01/2022 10:30:00 Sibusiso Zwane

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MBABANE - Education on the move!

This is what is happening in the education system of the country as government has already covered much ground in preparing to pilot a four-year programme for high school, which is currently five years for secondary and high school. The move by government, which will be implemented when schools open for the 2022 school calendar on April 5, 2022, will see government killing two birds with one stone. This is because it will phase out Junior Certificate (JC), where Form III pupils had to sit for external examinations and also pave way for pupils to do AS Level and A Level, which will provide quality qualifications which would be beyond the current Eswatini General Certificate of Secondary Education (EGCSE).
The Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education and Training, Bhekithemba Gama, said they had identified a total of 32 schools across the country that would pilot the programme. He said schools were selected in rural, semi-urban and urban areas.

Interview

In terms of ownership, he said they selected missionary schools, public schools, community schools and central schools. He said this during an interview, which was held in his office on Friday. However, the PS said the curriculum would be the same as the current EGCSE, which is done in five years. He said the only difference was that it had been compressed to suit the proposed four-year programme. He emphasised that there would be nothing new in the four-year programme as when compressing the syllabus, they collected like terms. For example, he said what was done in Form I and II had be done in Form I. Likewise what was done in Form II and Form III would be done in the Form II and some staff which was taught in Form III, would be in the Form IV syllabus as there would be no JC. He said the same would apply with the Form IV and V syllabuses.

“This programme will provide quality and internationally recognised qualifications, which will be beyond EGCSE as it will allow pupils to do AS and A Levels. This means our pupils will be marketable internationally,” the PS said. Gama said AS and A Levels belonged to Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). However, he said, they would localise it just like they did when localising the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) to form the Eswatini General Certificate of Secondary Education (EGCSE). Worth noting is that IGCSE was introduced in the country in 2006 and its first examination was in 2007. When it was introduced, it replaced the General Certificate Education, which was widely referred to as O’level, a syllabus which had been around for many years. After introducing IGSCE in 2006, government worked on localising it and this process was completed in 2011 and that was when it was phased out as schools, mainly public schools, taught EGSCE.

During the interview with the PS on Friday, he said the pupils who would be admitted to Form I in the identified 32 schools, would sit for the same examination with those who are in Form II under the five-year programme. Thereafter, he mentioned that throughout the four years, they would be monitoring and evaluating the progress so that at the end of the piloting duration, they would be clear what schools needed in order for the four-year programme to run according to plan. Therefore, he said government’s plan was that after the four years, all schools would carry out the programme. During the monitoring and evaluation exercises, they would focus on teaching, curriculum and how pupils and teachers were handling it.
The PS also highlighted that some schools like Baha’i and Sifundzani, among others, were already doing the four-year programme.

He said even Salesian Mission School once carried it out. Again, Gama emphasised that it would be all systems go for the piloting programme in the identified 32 institutions when government opens schools for the 2022 calendar. He said they were working hand-in-hand with the Examinations Council of Eswatini and National Curriculum Centre. On another note, the PS stated that this was a 37-year-old dream of government as since 1985, they had been having commissions of inquiry, which were based on a report that recommended that high schools duration should be reduced from five to four years so that pupils could do AS and A Levels. He said the programme and exercises which were carried out were well documented at the National Curriculum Centre.