SENATORS DISAPPROVE FUNDING OF GRADE 0

MBABANE – No way!

This phrase aligns with the strong disapproval by senators of the proposal to have Grade 0 financed by government as detailed in the Ministry of Education and Training recommendations in its portfolio committee annual performance report for the financial year 2022/23. There were two recommendations on Grade 0, one being that it should be funded by government and the other was that qualified and trained teachers should be deployed to teach this grade. The ministry distributed classroom furniture and books to 80 primary schools that had introduced Grade 0 for the first time in 2021. It introduced the Grade 0 programme as a means to assist children whose parents cannot afford preschool education get ready for Grade 1. The Grade 0 proposals formed part of the seven overall recommendations under the ministry that were made after the debate of the report at Senate last week.

Throw

Senator Vuka Moi Moi Masilela was first to throw the recommendation out the window and his contention was that government was already funding free primary education (FPE), funding the orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) grants and also availing funding through scholarship loans for students qualifying for tertiary enrolment. “This is not the first time this issue comes to Parliament and we did say previously that it should not go ahead. Government already funds FPE, pays tertiary scholarships for students and now this,” he asserted.
Senator Chief Ngalonkhulu shared the same sentiments, stating that biblically, God did allow for people to be fertile and increase, fill the earth but it was not to say people should do it hysterically.  He submitted that people should be considerate and do things that would not entail being a burden to others, simply because it was allowed to do those things.
“Let us not be carried away but remain focused and be considerate that government has a full load already. There are challenges at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) as we speak but on top of those challenges, we want to add other burdens, it can’t be,” he said. Senator Chief Zabeni Shiba supported his colleagues, stating that it was a big weight that government was made to carry.

“Previously, we disallowed the request to get a loan for the Early Childhood Care, Development and Education (ECCDE) as proposed by the minister of Finance, I fail to understand how a similar thing has found its way to Parliament from the Ministry of Education,” he submitted. Senate Princess Celumusa’s submissions were not far from what her colleagues had shared. She highlighted that government was paying for stationery, food and tuition through the FPE and it was also paying the OVC grants at secondary level while also paying tuition fees for students at tertiary. “We should cut government some slack,” she said. Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku said the only recommendation that would draw his attention would be on meeting vulnerable children under FPE halfway, as some did not have shoes or school uniform. He submitted that another issue was of those pupils dropping out at high school due to the high fees. “Parents have stayed away from their responsibility, to such an extent that paying for Grade 0 has become a hustle.

lowest

“They should take the primary responsibility of funding their children at the very lowest grade then government takes over,” he said. The other recommendations under the ministry were that the ministry should conduct a study to ascertain feasibility of funding secondary education by government, ministry to solicit intervention from government to consider feasibility of free secondary education, ministry tables report on EMCU accreditation in seven days  and that in the quarter, the minister should ensure that either his assurances contained in this report, recommendations made by the committee were fully or provide a good progress report. The last one was the consideration of the proposed budget allocation for the ministry and recommends its approval.

The consensus was that all the recommendations, except the last one, be scrapped and a new recommendation was made and added to make it only two recommendations prior to the adoption of the report. The new recommendation, which was proposed by Senator Mkhululi Dlamini was that the committee of the Ministry of Education and Training, along with the minister, should go to the UNESWA in order to fully understand the financial issues that the university was facing. The recommendation was welcomed by the Senators and the report was adopted with two recommendations, including that of approving the budget allocation for the financial year 2023/24 commencing this coming Saturday.

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