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NO LESSONS THIS WEEK - SOME HEAD TEACHERS

05/04/2022 08:48:00 Mthunzi Mdluli

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MBABANE - Today marks the official opening of schools, but lessons will not be conducted in most schools.

This is because most head teachers confirmed that they would still be busy with the administration work of registering pupils, among other things, this week. The reason for the delay was that most pupils had not yet received their results, despite that the Ministry of Education and Training had announced the release of both the Eswatini Primary Certificate (EPC) and the Junior Certificate (JC) results last Thursday afternoon. Some of the schools visited yesterday included Mater Dolorosa (MDS) High School, KaBoyce High School, Woodlands High and KaSchiele High School. Some teachers said they were skeptical to start teaching, because some of the pupils would be left behind as registration was still ongoing. They further said it would make their work difficult as they had to make sure that all those pupils who were admitted caught up with the syllabus.

Unfortunate

A teacher from MDS High said it was unfortunate that some pupils, who were still not admitted to any schools, would miss out if, by next week, they would not have secured spaces. She argued that the Ministry of Education and Training should have postponed the opening of schools by a week, until all pupils were admitted across the country. The head teachers, in various interviews and through one of their associations, said as much as the Ministry of Education and Training had announced that schools should be opened today; and they should hit the ground running thereafter, lessons would not be conducted as schools would be focusing mostly on administrative duties. The administrative duties, according to the head teachers, would entail the admission of newcomers and the distribution of stationery and textbooks, as some schools would be piloting the new four-year compressed syllabus.

Manzini Nazarene High School head teacher Phindile Makhanya, when asked if lessons would resume today, said: “No, tomorrow (today) we’ll be receiving Form I and Form IV pupils. There will be registrations and issuing of textbooks, then lessons will resume on Wednesday (tomorrow). ” The same concerns were raised by Mjingo High School Deputy Mbhekile Khumalo, who shared that teachers always tried to teach as much as they could. “We have prepared ourselves for lessons, but for the Form I and IV classes, it will be quite difficult for them to learn because they have just been admitted today (yesterday),” the deputy said. He added that the pupils’ parents and guardians were still organising school fees. Also, Duze High School Head teacher Zanele Dlamini, said it was unfortunate that lessons would not start today as her institution was one of those that were part of the four-year programme that was piloted by government.

However, the school head teacher said she believed they would start as soon as they had settled. She pointed out that Form II, III, as well as V classes would resume lessons before the end of the week. Mhubhe High Head teacher Nxumalo expressed that it was tricky to say they would begin lessons today, because some pupils had lost textbooks and they were in the process of clearing that. He said pupils were still to be given report cards. Nxumalo added that the school was in the process of starting registrations. He invited parents to come to the school to look for spaces for their children as they (spaces) were available. The head teacher said the school admitted all pupils, notwithstanding the fact that the results were not commendable. Meanwhile, Salesian High School Head teacher Petros Horton, said he believed they would have to start but they would break lessons at 1pm. Horton mentioned that he was not sure if spaces were still available as he had attended a workshop away from the school.

Symbols

On the other hand, Swaziland Association of Schools Administrators (SASA) Secretary General (SG) Siphasha Dlamini said it was not practical at all to resume lessons today, given that external examination results (symbols) were only issued yesterday. Dlamini said it was unfortunate that public announcements could sometimes set teachers against parents when they came to schools and not find what they were told was available with head teachers. This, she said, was the issuance of the examination results, which many parents had sought to collect yesterday and were planning to use them in securing spaces for their children in other schools. She further said there was also a challenge with the disbursements of grants (orphaned and vulnerable (OVCs) and the free primary education (FPE programme), as many schools were yet to receive them yet the money was needed for the day-to-day operations.

In terms of being at work today, Dlamini said as employees of government, they would have to be in school and ready to meet parents to admit their children, despite the challenges that came with such, as burnout. She said the biggest shortcoming in having the schools reopen today was that they were tired. Dlamini said this was because there had not been enough time to unwind the longest year ever 2021. She said the past academic year was marred with the shortage of teachers since their contracts had not been renewed and there had been no replacement of teachers who had transferred to others schools, retired or had passed on. The SASA SG also bemoaned that there had been no communication to them as head teachers on the filling of vacant posts in schools. On the other hand, Dlamini extended appreciation to the Ministry of Education and Training in collaboration with Micro Projects for the refurbishment of classes that were destroyed last year.

Affected

“On the issue of classrooms, the Regional Education Officers (REOs) of the affected school, in collaboration with Micro Projects and Planning Department at the Ministry of Education and Training, have always done their level best to fix damaged schools; the hold up might be with the Ministry of Finance if no money is given to the relevant departments on time,” Dlamini said. It is worth noting that the education system was marred with challenges as pupils boycotted classes and in the process vandalised and burnt some classrooms. Also, some schools were set on fire in the midst of the political unrest that was witnessed in the last week of June and the beginning of July. There were also random arson attacks which targeted schools, resulting in the destruction of infrastructure.