Parents said they were worried that the pupils did not learn their subject at all because he was busy.

M– The children’s future hangs in the balance.

Concerned Moyeni High School committee representatives engaged the Ministry of Education and Training on possible solutions to the absence of a Maths and Science teacher since the beginning of the year.

The teacher, Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) President Mbongwa Dlamini had allegedly not reported for duty for some days, resulting in a panic by some parents who failed to understand why their children’s exercise books maintained a clean sheet for many days.

Dlamini stands accused by his employer, the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), of having absented himself from school for 109 days.

However, Dlamini has always shrugged away the allegations of absenteeism, saying he always reported to his supervisor when going away to attend SNAT activities.

Eswatini News reliably gathered that officials from the Ministry of Education had visited the school to get first-hand information on the progress made by pupils in the classes taught

Moyeni High School, where Mbongwa Dlamini is a teacher.

by Dlamini. It was after this visit that the TSC established the exact number of days on which Dlamini was allegedly absent.

Two representatives of the school committee - Chairperson Nomcebo Khoza and Chief’s Runner Jabulani Thwala - had a meeting with officials from the ministry to ask for a solution to the matter, saying that the future of their children hung in the balance.

Bitter

Thwala revealed to Eswatini News this week that parents were bitter upon realising that their children had not made any meaningful progress in the classes that Dlamini taught. The parents said they were worried that pupils did not learn their subject at all because he was busy.

“This then prompted us to start investigating what SNAT is all about and why it was keeping the teacher away from class. When we went

SNAT President Mbongwa Dlamini in this file picture.

to Mbabane we wanted to find out what the law says about such a teacher and to get advice on how this issue could be resolved. This was very painful to us,” he said. Thwala said to him it was appalling that parents p a i d money for their pupils to learn, only to get news that learning did not take place for many days. “Parents came to