AUDITOR FAILS TO ACCESS BAHA’I SCHOOL ACCOUNT

MBABANE - Government and the Baha’i Faith Mission are allegedly embroiled in a conflict over the schools’ account management.  

It is alleged that despite the fact that Baha’i Primary School have been in existence since 1988 and the high school since 1997, there have been no school committees. It is further alleged that both primary and high school parents are made to pay school fees in one joint account, something that did not sit well with the ministry of Education and Training. Initially, it was after some parents engaged and reported the matter to the ministry.
It is said that the ministry then engaged the Baha’i school Board over the litany of complaints, which were brought to its attention.

Disclosed

Well-placed sources have disclosed to Eswatini News that the Baha’i school Board was then invited by the ministry to deliberate on the concerns raised by the parents and also to see to it that it was amicably resolved. Moreover, the Hhohho Regional Educational Officer (REO), Tamar LaNgwenya, confirmed that the ministry took the matter up with the sschool Board after the concerns were raised. REO LaNgwenya further confirmed that it was agreed during a meeting between the ministry and the board that by July 31, the account issue would be resolved.

“Due to the ministry’s policies, an auditor was sent but then he couldn’t access the account as it was agreed. The school board agreed to open another account and the job of the auditor was to check and separate the money belonging to the primary and that of the high school. Hiring the auditor would make the job easier,” the REO said. The school’s grantee, when interviewed by Eswatini News, confirmed that the board had been engaged by the ministry over the audit and account of the schools.

“The problem is that these things need an authorisation by the board and it was not possible that it is done speedily as the ministry anticipated. We are not in a clash with the ministry, however, engagements over this matter are still in progression,” the grantee pointed out. The school Board, after being engaged by the ministry, then wrote a long letter to the parents of both schools.  

Notified

In the letter that was seen by this publication’s reporter, the school Board, through the Grantee, Thoko Ngubeni, notified the parents that it had recently had some meetings with officials from the Ministry of Education. “They have made us aware that there are a few parents who have complained to them about the management of finances at the schools; we are not sure what exactly they are concerned about, but we have decided to nonetheless provide you with what we hope will be relevant and reassuring. “On teacher remuneration, parents should firstly realise that we are not a fully supported government school.

“Only a percentage of teachers receive salaries from the government, some 28 out of 50. We also have been required to pay for textbooks, stationary and school furniture, etc, provisions that are supplied to fully fledged government schools,” reads the letter written to the parents. In addition, the school informed the parents that it hires teachers who are paid through school fees and that this had partially been the case because the government had a freeze on additional posts, or so they were told, and require a 45/1 student to teacher ratio before allocating a post for a teacher. “At the Baha’i schools, we have tried to keep the student to teacher ratio low to offer more quality education and adequate attention to students. Teachers as well are given a ‘top-up’, to motivate and value their contributions with the expectation that they will give their utmost dedication to getting the best out of every student. The results have hopefully been a testimony to that.

Results

“In addition, the Board meets every year with head teachers when the results come out and goes over them carefully to analyse where improvements can be put into practice and lessons learned,” further reads the letter. “The school Board further pointed out that so to maintain a harmonious environment, the formulae for teacher remunerations are the same for government teachers and those hired directly by the school. In this way, there is no discrimination among them. Government salary scales are applied and the same measures for all teachers are used for rewarding ‘top-ups’,” explained the school Board in the letter.

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