No education is free - SASA
Some head teachers allegedly demand up to E2 700 from OVCs.
AFFECTED:
Sources revealed that those who are mostly affected are those pupils who have lost one parent but benefit from social grants. “The pupils are made to move from pillar to post, looking for these monies.”
MBABANE – SASA’s Secretary General (SG), Sphasha Dlamini, has said education will never be free in the country.
SASA is the acronym for Swaziland Association of Schools Administrators.
Speaking to Eswatini News, Dlamini pointed out that there is nothing like free primary education as the taxpayers are there ones who end up bearing the costs at the end of the day.
Further, the SG clarified that even the orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) do not receive free education at the secondary and high school level.
“Education will never be free and if government continues to pay the meagre amount of E1 950 and E2 500 respectively, the OVCs receive the education at the expense of the other pupils whose parents have paid the total cost of the school fees at the school,” explained Dlamini.
She was responding to questions posed by this publication, where she was asked to explain why some head teachers are allegedly demanding top-up fees to the tune of E2 500 from pupils who are OVCs who were also beneficiaries of the social grant which is administered by the Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) Office.
This publication had been flooded with calls from concerned residents who stated that they were disturbed as to why were head teachers demanding that OVC pupils (bantfwana bendlunkhulu), pay the E2 700 top-up.
Dlamini pointed out that these pupils, who are deemed as OVCs, actually do have relatives.
“There is no child who has no custodian and it is only that some people have elected to be dishonest and shun away from their responsibilities. You would be shocked to learn that these people do show up when the times are good and more especially when it is dowry paying times to claim that child as their own,” opined the SG.
orPhan
A maternal orphan is a child whose mother has died, a paternal orphan is a child whose father has died, and a double orphan is a child/teen/ infant who has lost both parents. This contrasts with the older use of half-orphan to describe children who had lost only one parent.
Dlamini disclosed that the number of pupils who had lost both parents are estimated to be not exceeding 20 per school. “Where there is a situation whereby both parents have passed away, we school managers, committees and the parents seek out sponsors to pay their
school fees, we cannot ignore this that education is now expensive,” said Dlamini.
Eswatini News has learnt that the head teachers of numerous schools (names deliberately withheld), have continued to demand these amounts from the pupils who are beneficiaries of social grants which are administered by the DPM’s Office.
Well-placed sources have revealed that those who are mostly affected are pupils who have lost one parent but are also beneficiaries of social grants in the country.
“The pupils who are OVCs are allegedly made to move from pillar to post, looking for these monies, so to pay up the top-up fees,” disclosed one member of the bucopho in one of the areas.
Government only pays E1 950 for OVCs who are in Form I to Form V excluding Form IV where it pays E2 500 per pupil.
Furthermore, she said government should pay all grants related to the operations of schools.
These grants are the free primary education (FPE) and also the OVCs, which are contributed by government for pupils.
Increased
The FPE grant has since its inception in 2010, been set at E560 per year per pupil now it has since been increased by 20 per cent by the Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg when he delivered the National Budget at the Fifth Session of the 11th Parliament, recently.
Further, OVC grants vary as they cater for high school learners and most head teachers have been calling for government to increase grants, as education has become expensive, more especially in secondary and high school education.
The head teachers have decried that it is the delay in paying the grants by government and also that they (grants) are meagre, which subsequently render the schools unfit to operate as these basic services were essential for their day-today operations.
DPM Themba Nhlanganiso Masuku, when contacted pertaining the challenge faced by the OVCs through the demand of the top-ups, referred this publication to the Ministry of Education.
“Contact the minister of Education because schools fall under her mandate. We pay the legal grant only,” Masuku responded.