Shortage of teachers continues

LOBAMBA – The shortage of teachers continues to be a problem in constituencies.

This was disclosed by Members of Parliament (MPs) during the debate of the Ministry of Education and Training Portfolio Committee in the House of Assembly yesterday.

Shiselweni Region MP Nokuthula Dlamini asked if the ministry still regarded itself as providing quality education in schools. She said her question emanated from the fact that there was a shortage of teachers in schools.

She said there were five new schools in the Shiselweni Region and from these, four were high schools and one primary school.

Quality

The MP further disclosed that there was a school which had two teachers teaching 26 pupils. She reiterated her question as to whether the ministry provided quality education from this region.

Dlamini said school-going children woke up every day to attend school but were not learning.

Meanwhile, she said Nsindazwe High School only had a teacher who was a volunteer. She asked the ministry to detail what role it played in ensuring quality education.

In the same breath, Lomahasha MP Ndumiso Masimula said some schools were now mixing pupils and placing them in one classroom stream as a contingency measure to the shortage of teachers. Masimula mentioned that this compromised the quality of education.

Retired

He further detailed that in one of the schools in his constituency, there was no head teacher and deputy as they both retired.

As a result, the MP revealed that there was a senior teacher who assumed the role of both leaders and also went back to class to teach pupils.

He said Lomahasha Central High had a shortage of eight teachers as their contracts were not renewed.

Meanwhile, he decried administrative issues in schools.

The MP said there was a tendency of hiding behind the fact that there was unrest in schools and yet some issues were attributed to administrative issues.