MBABANE: Lady Howard-Mabuza, the Minister of Education and Training has complied with a Parliament resolution, parents are no longer forced to pay school fees for last year.
This comes after Parliament passed a resolution suggesting that the Minister must stop the payment of school fees for last year and further refund parents who have already paid, the motion was moved by Matsanjeni MP Phila Buthelezi and seconded by Shiselweni MP Straydon Mpanza
Addressing the Nation from the Cabinet offices on Tuesday, the Minister said parents will no longer pay for last year's school fees and requested Head Teachers to prepare financial reports for the previous year and a budget for the year 2021.
"Head Teachers should prepare a financial report for the previous year and a budget for this year and submit those documents to the REO's office after the parents approval so we can be able to refund those who have already paid", she said .
When reached for comments, Sikelela Dlamini, the Secretary General of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers(SNAT) said they welcome the Minister's statement but clarified that as stakeholders, they were disappointed with the lack of political leadership within the Ministry.
"We welcome the Minister's statement but we want it to be known to everyone that we are extremely disappointed in the lack of sound political leadership in the country’s largest Ministry. As main stakeholders we organised a meeting with the Senior Management Team in the Ministry, we tabled our suggestions in terms of how schools can be reopened , one of the suggestions was that parents should not pay for last year's schools fees and government should foot the bill since education is a public good which should be state funded. They failed to take our advice and we are disappointed that they had to shamefully withdraw a statement that they had previously made", said the SNAT Secretary General.
Education Minister Lady Howard-Mabuza