MBABANE – As the Form V examination results are released today, teachers and parents across the country expressed optimism about improved performance.
Many educators noted that the effort put in by learners and teachers throughout the year would likely translate into positive outcomes.
Last year, St Mark’s High School in Mbabane emerged as the top-performing school nationally. While many hope the trend continues, psychologists have cautioned parents to avoid placing excessive pressure on learners.
The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), however, said it would not be surprised if results were poor this year due to numerous challenges, including lack of equipment, insufficient human resources and underfunding. Head teachers agreed with this assessment.
Deputy Secretary General of the association, Mxolisi Ngcamphalala, said given the working conditions of their members, attaining poor results will not shock them.
Ngcamphalala pointed to multiple contributing factors responsible for teachers’ poor working conditions, including an inadequate number of educators.
He said the teachers are overwhelmed as a shortage of them means they have to carry out tasks that are designed for extra hands.
He also pointed to a lack of equipment or poor resources at schools, highlighting that the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) leadership would frequently visit the schools to check on the state of readiness and the challenges that they pick are sometimes not attended to despite being reported to the line ministry and that eventually affects the overall performance.
Ngcamphalala further pointed to uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the new four-year secondary education structure, saying aspects of the reform remain unclear even though the programme has moved beyond the pilot phase.
It should be mentioned that the country is transitioning to a four-year secondary education structure (Grade 8 to 11) starting this year, shifting from the previous five-year system.
This reform introduces Competency-Based Education (CBE) to focus on practical skills, creativity and entrepreneurship, alongside academic subjects like Arts and Sciences.
“There are many factors that make us to be sceptical about the academic performance in the country. We do not doubt the performance of the teachers but we doubt the environment in which our members are. We expect the results to be good obviously, but it won’t be a shock if they are not,” he said.
He said that during the times when the results are good, they are always tempted to give praise only to the teachers and the collaboration with pupils rather than the support system from the State.
Ngcamphalala said this is not because of attitude but it is informed by the obtaining challenges which they address with government but remain unchanged.
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