SCHOOLS WELCOME PUPILS AMID CHALLENGES

MBABANE – Despite the challenges faced by most schools, most head teachers in the capital city welcomed their learners as they returned to class yesterday.

On Saturday, Minister of Education and Training Lady Mabuza announced the phased reopening of the other grades. Most pupils and teachers in the capital city heeded the call and returned to school. John Wesley High School Head teacher Busisiwe Mdluli said they were ill-prepared, more especially when it came to COVID-19 precautions. She said they wanted pupils to return to school but there was a lack of engagement and consultation between them and the Ministry of Education.

She noted that as teachers, they were not happy with the children being away from school for too long. She said at her school they lost one learner who committed suicide and she believed that if the pupil was at school, maybe she would have been noticed and be assisted. Mdluli added that they welcomed the learners but also wanted to be engaged by the ministry when taking such decisions. She highlighted that schools were closed because of the political unrest but now government announced their reopening without stating the stance of the unrest. She wondered what had been done by government to address the concerns which informed the decision to reopen schools. Mdluli said parents and government were not coming forth with payments and the school coffers were dry.

Grants

She said in her school, government had only paid half of the orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) grants yet there were a lot of things that needed money. She even noted that things such as telephone bills had not been paid, making it hard to run the school. Mdluli said despite this challenge, she wanted pupils to return to school because staying at home was not doing them any good. Mbuluzi High School Head teacher Siza Dlamini lamented the sudden communication by the ministry of education regarding the reopening of schools. “The communication was not consultative,” said Dlamini. He said they were shocked to learn that the schools were reopening for the other grades.

Information

Dlamini said he noticed that a majority of his pupils were not in, possibly because they got the information about the reopening very late. He added that another reason that may have led to some learners being absent might be that some parents were still sceptical about the safety of the children. He touched on the fact that if schools reopened, they required finances, more especially as his school had a boarding facility. He said parents needed to budget for the return of the children to school. He also lamented the shortage of teachers for critical subjects in his school. He highlighted that there were some teachers who retired and others were transferred to other schools and they had not been replaced.

Finances

Dlamini said another challenge was the finances as parents were sceptical to pay fees for their children. He said even government had not paid fully for the OVC and FPE grants. He noted that government paid only one third of the fees. Thabo Nkambule, Mater Dolorosa Primary School Head teacher said he welcomed the learners as he was looking forward to the return of the other grades. Nkambule said he had no issues on the return of the other grades and found it better that the children have returned other than being idle at home. He said in as much as the announcement was short notice, there was nothing else they could do but just focus on the present situation and forge a way forward.

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