School wants only ‘real parents’
LOMAHASHA – ‘Will the real parents please stand up’. Some guardians at Nkalashane Primary School are accusing the administration of sidelining guardians and only preferring biological parents during meetings.
In the past, the school has been the centre of controversy when some residents claimed it was a community school, while another faction stated that it was part of the Church of the Nazarene schools scattered around the country.
Bheki Masilela, who is a resident of the Nkalashane, said he was one of the people who were guardians to pupils enrolled at the school. He said one of the children he took care of was a pupil there.
Masilela said despite this, the school insisted that during meetings, the biological parents should attend and not the guardians. “Some of these children are orphans,” said Masilela.
He questioned how orphans would be able to bring their biological parents. Further, he said he had a granddaughter who was a learner at the school.
The guardian said the mother to his granddaughter did not live near the school. He said since the child lived with him, he was the rightful guardian.
Aaron Mthembu, the Head teacher of Nkalashane Primary School, initially denied the allegations that the school only wanted biological parents of the pupils during meetings.
Instead, he urged this reporter to attend the school’s meetings to get the views of the parents’ issues touching the school.
Mthembu also said the problem was that some families attended school meetings in large groups. He said in some cases, grandparents, aunts and other relatives attended meetings for just one pupil. He said it was wrong for some parents to want to cause confusion.
The Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education and Training Bhekithemba Gama said he was not able to comment on the matter when contacted at the time of compiling this report.
Meanwhile, Mthembu accused some parents of using the school meetings to campaign for the elections. The head teacher said he had observed that some parents were bringing confusion in the school as they were campaigning. He said the situation was worse now that this is the year for the parliamentary elections.
elections
Lot Vilakati, Secretary General (SG) of the Swaziland National Asociation of Teachers (SNAT), also confirmed that this was indeed happening in schools. He said the SNAT had taken a stand not to speak about elections but added that they had observed that even some ministers were using the schools to campaign.
Her said this was not right, adding that it was now disturbing the schools’ learning process. “We agree with this head teacher,” he said. He said the head teacher was spot on when he expressed concern that some people were being used to campaign for elections. The PS, again, said he was not able to comment even on this matter.
Mbonisi Bhembe, the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Communications Officer, said he was not able to comment on the matter because the schools had their own authorities who should be contacted instead.