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NO FPE, SOME SCHOOLS WITHOUT WATER, ELECTRICITY ON FIRST DAY

11/09/2024 09:52:00 Sithembile Hlatshwayo

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MBABANE – The delay in the payment of free primary education (FPE) grant has seen some schools go without water and electricity, among other things.
Other schools say they fear that the available food will be finished in the coming two weeks and are crossing their fingers for the Ministry of Education and Training to intervene.
The ministry stated that the food delivered to schools before they closed for the second term will last them at least 30 days, hence it is not an issue as deliveries are expected to be made in two weeks.True to the sentiments shared by Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Secretary General Lot Vilakati, schools were not ready to reopen yesterday.
In other schools, since they do not have money to buy petroleum gas, they are unable to cook the limited food they have.

Fonteyn Primary School Deputy Head teacher Nomcebo Mamba said the school is in arrears of E5 444.80 for an outstanding water bill, while their electricity units were exhausted about two weeks ago.Mamba said they had no idea of what to do as they were hoping that the Ministry of Education would come to their rescue. “We are expecting representatives from the ministry today (Tuesday 11, 2024) who will be introducing our new head teacher,” Mamba said.

Financials

The school has been without a head teacher since July 2024. Mamba said they were in the dark regarding the financials of the school, hence they were also in the dark on whether they received the FPE grant or not.According to Mamba, the school is also struggling with some of the working tools, including charts. She said they reported the matter to the school committee and pastoral inspector.Mater Dolorosa (MDS) Primary School Head teacher Thabo Nkambule said they were looking forward to the ministry supplying them with food in the next two weeks as the remaining food will is not enough.

Currently, he said there are only five bags of rice, three bags of beans, 6x10kg bags of meali-meal, which was donated to the school and 15x50kg maize-meal.He said food that was donated by the ministry before schools closed include; 25x50kg bags of maize-meal, 13x50kg bags of rice and 13x50kg beans.Nkambule said they tried rationing the food, but due to government’s tight budget, they were receiving very limited bags. John Wesley Primary School Head teacher Norman Gumedze said food in the school is enough to last at least a month. He said they will have difficulty cooking it because they do not have petroleum gas. Gumedze said they use gas stoves for cooking, but due to the fact that the school has not received FPE grant, they cannot refill the gas cylinders. Gumedze said they need over E4 000 to refill the gas bottles, adding that usually they filled three 48kg cylinders, which lasts them the whole term. Also, he said they are lacking other amenities, including cooking oil and vegetables like onion and tomatoes and soup for the bean stew.

Asked what delayed the FPE payment, he said they had to fix documentation about two times after it was turned back by the ministry for rectification of errors.Meanwile, the situation in schools, including the Fontyn Primary School, will be normalised if its FPE is granted.The above statement was made by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education and Training Naniki Mnisi. The PS had been asked about the situation at Fontyn Primary, where there is no water and electricity.