Times Of Swaziland: RECORD E5BN ALLOCATION FOR EDUCATION, E3BN FOR HEALTH

RECORD E5BN ALLOCATION FOR EDUCATION, E3BN FOR HEALTH
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Sabelo Majola on 27/02/2024 09:18:00


LOBAMBA – The education sector received a record high of E5 billion budget
allocation while the Ministry of Health received E3 billion.
These two sectors received a combined allocation percentage of 27, with
education getting 17 per cent of the overall budget and health getting 10 per
cent.  The Ministry of Education and Training was allocated E3.96 billion in the
2023/24 financial year and this year’s allocation depicts a growth of 20.8 per
cent. The health sector was allocated E2.76 billion in the previous financial
year and this depicts a growth of eight per cent. Part of the improved budget
allocation for the education sector was government’s approval of a revised fee
schedule structure for free primary education.
Permanent
Government, as revealed by Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg when presenting
the budget speech yesterday in Parliament, also converted 794 temporary teachers
to permanent and pensionable positions in the 2023/2024 financial year. He
pointed out that in the 2024/2025 budget, government had allocated E65 million
to continue with conversion of temporary teaching positions into permanent
roles, to address teacher shortages and also contribute to the overall quality
of education, providing students with a more stable and conducive learning
environment. In summary, government allocated E3.94 billion in the recurrent
budget, E200 million in the capital budget to the Ministry of Education and
Training, E194 million in the orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) fund and
E647 million for scholarships, equalling a total of E5 billion for the provision
of education and training, at all levels in the country.
This represents 17 per cent of the total budget spent on educating emaSwati.
Challenges like drugs and human resource are some of the considerations that saw
the Ministry of Health getting an improved budget of E3 billion. It was also in
the spirit of implementing the policy of a health facility for every
eight-kilometre radius across the country, that the health sector received so
much in allocation. Rijkenberg highlighted that the outcry at Sibaya People’s
Parliament around the problems in the Ministry of Health, as well as from the
public in the submissions for the budget speech on the virtual platforms,
emphasised the need for additional funding to turnaround the ministry. “For
this reason, we have allocated E250 million more to the health budget, bringing
it to E3 billion. This represents 10 per cent of the total budget,” he said.
Minister of Health Mduduzi Matsebula said he was grateful to the Finance
minister for prioritising the health sector in the budget and he mentioned that
they would do everything in their power to tackle the challenges in the sector.
However, Matsebula mentioned that the health budget was still not reaching the
15 per cent of the overall budget as required by the UN Conventions and he was
hopeful that one day, that dream would become a reality.