Times Of Swaziland: SNAT’S 6 DEMANDS BEFORE SCHOOLS OPEN

SNAT’S 6 DEMANDS BEFORE SCHOOLS OPEN
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Sibusiso Zwane on 22/01/2025 10:02:00


MANZINI - The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) has outlined six
demands that must be met by government before schools can reopen on Tuesday.
The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) held a general council
(GC) meeting yesterday at the SNAT Centre in Manzini, where one of the main
items on the agenda was the reopening of schools for the 2025 calendar year.
According to SNAT Secretary General (SG) Lot Vilakati, the GC, an advisory
structure of the national executive committee (NEC) composed of all SNAT branch
leaders and national committees, discussed issues that need to be addressed
before the opening of schools on January 28.
He stated that one of the key issues was the need for government to hire at
least 4 000 teachers to adhere to the teacher-pupil ratio policy of 1:45, among
other things.
Discussed
He said another critical issue discussed was the timely delivery of food to
schools. In that regard, the meeting agreed that government must deliver enough
food to schools before the opening date. “The meeting also demanded that
government, particularly the Ministry of Education and Training, should deliver
all the required stationery to schools before Tuesday,” the SG of the
teachers’ association said. He added that the meeting further demanded that
government should pay the free primary education (FPE) grant to primary schools
and release grants for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) to secondary
schools before the scheduled opening of schools for the first term. Furthermore,
the unionist stated that the meeting demanded that, before the opening of
schools, government should have hired teachers who will teach the pupils who
will be repeating Grade VII, as per its promise. It is worth noting that a total
of 2 716 pupils failed Grade VII in 2024. This is the matter that caused an
uproar, resulting in government revoking the letter it had written to head
teachers with high numbers of fails, instructing them to write explanation
letters.
After the meeting, Vilakati said the GC directed them as the NEC to determine
how far government has progressed in addressing these demands to assess the
readiness of schools to open on Tuesday. “The GC has given us until Monday to
report back to it on the extent to which government has addressed these issues,
ultimately determining the readiness of schools to open on Tuesday,” the
unionist said. He explained that to submit a concrete report to the GC, they
would meet with government, particularly the Ministry of Education and Training,
to discuss their demands. Additionally, they will visit some of the schools and
talk to head teachers to cross-check the information they would receive from
government. When asked what would happen if they found that government failed to
meet the demands, which would mean schools would not be ready to open, the SG
stated that they would inform the administration of the country accordingly.
Furthermore, he said they would advise against opening schools until they are
ready or until the demands are met. “If government decides to open schools
even if they are not ready, it would be akin to opening them for show, as the
teaching and learning process would not be effective,” Vilakati said.In fact,
he stated that since the power to open and close schools lies with the office of
the school manager, he acknowledged that even if they advised government not to
open the institutions until they are ready, they might still proceed. He
emphasised that this is why he stated that if schools were to be opened against
their advice, it would be merely for show.