Times Of Swaziland: WILLIAM PITCHER SCRAPS PRIMARY TEACHERS’ DIPLOMA WILLIAM PITCHER SCRAPS PRIMARY TEACHERS’ DIPLOMA ================================================================================ Nonduduzo Kunene on 21/10/2024 14:49:00 MBABANE – William Pitcher Teachers’ Training College has phased out the Primary Teachers’ Diploma (PTD) in response to the overproduction of teachers. This comes after the country, for the past five years, has been unable to absorb all teachers who were produced at the various institutions that train teachers. Most educators who were not absorbed studied PTD and those who majored in Humanities. Over the years, with even private colleges offering the programme, there had already been an overproduction of teachers. Overproduction In 2020, the then chairperson of the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) spelt out that there was an overproduction of teachers in the country, especially PTD holders. Private colleges that trained teachers were urged to reduce their intake since government had three colleges strictly for that programme. Additionally, Circular No:3 of 2018 also stringed hiring as more graduates were not absorbed into the system. In recent years, the Eswatini Higher Education Council (ESHEC) also stopped accrediting teaching courses at private colleges. Additionally, the council, through its Chief Executive Officer, Loretta Mkhonta, also urged the institution to come up with programmes that were required by the industry. Further, she urged government institutions and those partially owned by government to also revive their courses to produce graduates required by the industry. She, however, explained that there was a lot of resistance from institutions because the revision of a curriculum requires a lot of resources that are scarce for some of the institutions. Some institutions, such as William Pitcher Teachers’ Training College in Manzini, have taken major steps in ensuring that they meet government and the nation at large, by reviewing and boosting their curriculum and further phasing out some courses that are not in demand. The institution of higher learning, Principal Dr Futhi Mhlongo stated that their admission every year was informed about what the TSC would require in the coming years. Phased Out In courses and subject combinations that had an overproduction, they had to take drastic measures. “Our Primary Teachers’ Diploma Programme has been phased out and suspended to address that issue and we are currently focussing on the Secondary Teachers Diploma Programme. “In addition to that, the college has introduced new subject combinations, which are currently in demand and they include ICT courses and French, to mention a few,” she said. “Our intake is informed by the subject majors needed by the employer, which is the Teaching Service Commission (TSC). Where the absorption is slow, we stagger or alternate the intake; we also reduce admission numbers. For instance, English and Religious education majors are not produced yearly. Another combination is History and Geography majors -we take fewer numbers, 20 or fewer, and the intake is staggered,” she added. She added that the institution is also revising its curriculum to align it with the current job market requirements. She highlighted that the steps that were being followed in the programme review or evaluation, which have significant cost implications, include capacity building of the staff that reviews the curriculum, stakeholder needs assessment and validation, tracer studies inclusivity and accessibility, labour market analysis or evidence, benchmarking, staffing, physical resources, infrastructure, ICT resources and student support services and many more. “As a college, we welcome these changes, processes and requirements by ESHEC because they guarantee relevant quality education and training, as well as global competitiveness for our graduates. The college is committed to aligning with these statutory requirements. Also, I think it requires a major shift of mind-set, agility and a new set of skills and competencies, hence the need for continuous professional development of staff. This has a bearing on budgets. However, the Ministry of Education is providing the needed support,” she said. Last Tuesday the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Phila Buthelezi, announced that government will no longer sponsor Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). Buthelezi said the PGCE programme will cease being funded at the end of the academic year 2028/2029. Academic He added that the Bachelor of Arts in the Humanities programme, with effect from the academic year 2025/ 2026, will not be funded by government as well, as it does not form part of the priority areas of study. According to unconfirmed figures from the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) around 4 000 qualified teachers are unemployed. According to performance reports from the Ministry of Education and Training, the country produced around 1 000 qualified teachers, but not all of them get to be employed by government. The ministry also communicated early this year that there are teachers who graduated in 2017, who still have not been absorbed into the education system. The Acting Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training, Naniki Mnisi, when the ministry appeared, before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in the current financial year, the Ministry of Public Service granted them only 380 posts out of 1 000 they requested.