THURSDAY’S SCHOOLS REOPENING CREATES CONFUSION – PARENTS

MBABANE – Schools reopening date for the second term of the academic year has been shifted by a day, to September 8, 2022, but some parents are not happy.

Initially, schools were opening on Wednesday, September 7, 2022. The announcement was made by the Minister of Education and Training, Lady Mabuza, through a press statement, yesterday morning. Mabuza stated that the shift had been necessitated by the fact that September 6, 2022 was a public holiday and travelling for boarding pupils might be difficult. "This shift is, therefore, intended to allow boarding pupils to be able to travel to their respective schools on September 7, 2022 in readiness for resumption of classes on September 8, 2022.” The minister advised regional education officers (REOs), head teachers, parents, learners and all concerned stakeholders to take note of the dates for proper planning. Mabuza further wished all schools a fruitful second term of schooling, which marked the end of the academic year 2022.

Unnecessary

However, some parents have expressed concern following the shifting of schools reopening to Thursday, which they said was unnecessary as it was the end of the week. Cedric Chirwa, the Secretary General of the Eswatini Parents Committee, said the ministry was creating confusion as the reason was not clear on why they shifted the reopening of schools. Chirwa said if their children attended the Reed Dance ceremony and returned home, they needed to be monitored as the country was not yet out of the woods from COVID-19. “The children will be in a crowd for over five days and chances of getting infected with COVID-19 cannot be ruled out.”   He said it would have made sense to shift the opening to Monday the following week. Chirwa further mentioned that they would use their own discretion on whether to send the children to school. He stated that it was important that the ministry consulted stakeholders whenever there was a decision they would take that would affect the learners. Chirwa said government had no right to take such decisions single-handedly. He encouraged parents to work together with teachers on this matter.

Consult

Cyprian Dlamini, who is the Vice President of the Eswatini Schools Committee and Parents Association (ESCAPA), said the ministry never bothered to consult the stakeholders, who were parents and teachers. Dlamini said they were supporting the idea for government to crush the week and open the following week. He stated that some of the pupils were visiting relatives and would return over the weekend to start the week fresh on Monday. When sought for comment, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training Bhekithemba Gama stated that they did not consult at all times but also took executive decisions on matters. Gama said no one had raised concerns regarding the reopening of schools from the stakeholders, until the statement was released. “If the stakeholders had raised concerns earlier, we would have seen things differently,” he said. He said all the stakeholders were reactive instead of being proactive. Gama said they were against wasting of school attendance days.

Realistic

Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Secretary General Sikelela Dlamini reiterated that they would be at work on Wednesday. Dlamini said they did not think the announcement by government was realistic to shift the reopening of schools by hours because they had not been consulted as main stakeholders in the education fraternity. The SNAT SG also stated that there was no valid reason on why the schools reopening was postponed. He said they also supported parents who had noted that it was wrong for government not to consult. The SG stated that no matter how little the change, the ministry had to consult. He said such actions by the ministry showed that they had no regard for people working with it in the different sectors.  

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