RESIDENTS ORDERED TO PAY E1 000 FOR BUILDING SCHOOL

PIGG’S PEAK – The words made popular by USA’s 35th President John F Kennedy, ‘ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country’ are being put to use in Ehlangotsini.

Ehlangotsini is an area about 20 kilometres south of Pigg’s Peak.
Residents there have been ordered to pay E1 000 per homestead for the construction of Ehlangotsini High School but they are not pleased.

There are over 600 homesteads around Ehlangotsini.
Should all the homeowners pay up, this would translate to over E600 000.
Schools often cost millions of Emalangeni to construct.

The residents were also reminded of the same last Saturday during a meeting.
There is no high school in the community, such that pupils who pass the Swaziland Primary Certificate (SPC) Examinations often have to go to other schools, which are far away.
A considerable number of pupils abandon school even after passing, because of failure to afford expensive transport costs to the faraway schools.

For those whose parents can afford, the children travel to high schools in other areas such as Mhlatane, Fundukuwela or Mbeka.
The less fortunate sometimes walk several kilometres to other nearest schools.

Other parents end up renting rooms for their children to continue schooling in Pigg’s Peak.
The order to pay the E1 000 has now divided the community, as some are willing to pay while others have vowed not to do so.
Some of the residents have already paid the money but a considerable number has not done so.

The residents, instead, want the school to be built using other funding from relevant government departments or foreign donors.
Fund
“Why don’t they ask Micro Projects to fund the construction of the school?” asked the residents.
Speaking on condition of anonymity some of the residents said some of them could not afford the amount of money.
They alleged they were already struggling to pay school fees for their children.

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