UNESWA STUDENTS PETITION GOVT OVER SCHOLARSHIPS

MBABANE – Students from the University of Eswatini (UNESWA), Mbabane Campus, yesterday petitioned the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

They are demanding that all students who had been admitted to the facility be afforded scholarships. The students marched to the ministry to deliver their petition yesterday morning. They were led by their union, the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) and comprised of first-year students, among others. SNUS Mbabane Branch Chairperson Sambulo Shongwe said the reason they visited the ministry was to raise a concern about the first-year students, who had learnt that they had not been granted scholarships despite being admitted to study at the facility.

He stated that the students learnt that they had not been awarded scholarships on Tuesday when government issued the list of students who had been awarded scholarships. Shongwe said this was painful because the students were already on campus and had started their lessons, but since some of them had not been awarded scholarships, they would have to return home as they would not afford to pay their tuition fees on their own. Shongwe said about 70 or 80 per cent of the students who were admitted by the institution did not get scholarships and such showed a huge decline in the number of students who were awarded scholarships this year.

Deliberate

Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Makhosini Mndawe, who attended to the students, said he would meet with the minister to deliberate on the issues raised by the students. It is worth noting that last year, government allocated E78 million for scholarships of 2 550 students in the 2022-23 academic year. This is a 35 per cent drop in the number of students who were sponsored by government last year, with the number having stood at 4 100. Minister of Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi, said the country only had E78 million available to fund new students in the coming academic year. He said it was difficult to even come up with this amount as funds were hard to come by.

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