NO BIRTH CERTIFICATE, NO FREE PRIMARY EDUCATION

MBABANE – It is free, but not free for others.

This is the case of some pupils who are paying full school fees for primary level education, despite the fact that government introduced Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2010. It has been established that thousands of children still do not have the necessary documentation to qualify for the government’s FPE programme. Previously, head teachers denied enrolment of pupils without birth certificates. Others failed to register for the external examinations because they did not produce the required national documents.

Failed

This time, thousands of pupils without birth certificates, it has been discovered, enrolled for primary education without the certificates but failed to enjoy the exemption  in which pupils at primary level do not pay school fees in terms of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland (Eswatini). Eswatini News can reveal that whenever a new school term begins, many parents are faced with the harsh reality of having to pay for their children’s education, even though it is supposed to be free. Investigations unearthed that  many such parents were those with children in rural schools, but this predicament cannot be limited to them, as they may be some cases in other settings of the country.

Documentation

Some head teachers revealed that many of these children were allowed to learn in the schools without documentation until Grade VI. They faced difficulties in proceeding to Grade VII, where the national documents are required for registration purposes. “It is a must to have a birth certificate to register with the Examinations Council of Eswatini,” the head teachers revealed. Dumisani Mbuli, the Indvuna Yenkhundla of LaMgabhi revealed how some of the children in his constituency did not have birth certificates and could not benefit from the government’s FPE programme.

Serious

He said this was so serious that the inkhundla had to intervene on behalf of parents, so that their children could be allowed to register in the local primary schools. The initiative was part of government’s effort to fulfil the constitutional mandate of providing free education to all children at the primary level.The programme is aimed at removing financial barriers to education and ensuring that all children in the country access basic education, regardless of their family’s economic status. The initiative is aimed at ensuring that no child in the country would be denied access to education due to financial constraints.Government undertook the responsibility of paying school fees directly to schools on behalf of the enrolled children, thereby easing the burden on parents. According to www.ourworldindata.org, almost 60 million children of primary school age are not in school around the world.

Progress

It reported that though the world had made progress in recent generations, millions of children were still not in school. Also, www.heartforafrica.org reports that when considering the entire world, there are 264.3 million children, adolescents and youth who are not in school. It further reports that one of the countries that are suffering the most is Eswatini.
In Eswatini, a child cannot benefit from the FPE programme if he or she does not have a birth certificate. Birth certificates contain a unique 13-digit figure known as the personal identification number (PIN). This is also the same number used for one to apply for a national identity document (ID). Without a birth certificate, a child is not registered in the system and, as a result, is excluded from the benefits of free education.

Benefit

This is said to be the situation for thousands of children who are not able to benefit from the programme. There are currently 600 primary schools, including private institutions, in the country, with an enrolment of over 239 793, according to the government website www.gov.sz. The total enrolment from Grade I to VII in 2009 was 230 242 and in 2010 it was 242 037. The government’s FPE includes text and workbooks, stationery, furniture, programmes and infrastructures and exercise books. All these are provided for free as part of FPE. However, without FPE, this results in parents having to pay for all these, including food and textbooks.

Majority

This publication discovered that the majority of children who did not have birth certificates were in rural communities and that many were living with their grandparents. One concern, which was raised by some of the grandparents, was that Births, Marriages and Deaths (BMD) Department offices were not available in rural communities.  BMDs is a department within the Home Affairs responsible for issuing birth certificates. *Sontfo, a grandmother to *Nelly and *Sipho, said her grandchildren only recently managed to acquire birth certificates, but that they had not been benefitting from FPE as they had not been registered. She said the challenge was that they were left by her son and that he had not been available to get them registered.

Further, she said travelling to Manzini from Buhleni is costly. Further, she said she only benefitted because of the recent mopping-up exercise by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The challenge with children struggling to acquire birth certificates was not just unique to LaMgabhi, but this publication gathered that it was a countrywide problem. More affected constituencies included Mhlangatane, Ntfonjeni, Zombodze and many others that are further from urban areas. Parents in these communities are now being forced to pay for what is supposed to be free education, straining their already limited resources.

Gradually

Noteworthy, previously, children were allowed to benefit from the FPE programme without birth certificates. This, however, was later gradually changed until it was eventually not allowed. One of the primary reasons cited by parents for the lack of birth certificates is the unavailability of Home Affairs services in their communities. This publication gathered from some parents that one of the major reasons is that they travelled long distances to acquire birth certificates.  The parents also said the situation was particularly dire for families with multiple children.  “Imagine having to pay for three or four children to go to school when it is supposed to be free. It is a huge financial burden, and many parents are struggling to cope,” they said.

Struggled

Meanwhile, this publication recently published a story about children around Mhlume Inkhundla, who could not go to school because they struggled to acquire birth certificates. The children were from an area popularly known as Mgidzangcunu. Children from this area as well as surrounding communities, were not able to attend school until the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Thulisile Dladla, intervened through her office. This resulted in several children who had never been to school getting an opportunity to do so and availed of FPE.

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