MBABANE: Pius Vilakati, the former University of Eswatini (UNESWA) President of the Students Representative Council (SRC) has warned government against treating students as an opposition and frustrating the distribution of resources to the various institutions of higher learning.
Speaking to this Swaziland News on Thursday, the current Spokesperson of the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) said government was not only frustrating the distribution of resources to the Universities but failing to introduce new system that supports the fourth industrial revolution thus rendering the institutions almost useless.
“Government is not only frustration the distribution of resources to the institutions of higher learning but also failing to introduce a new system empowers the students to be relevant in the fourth industrial revolution” he said.
The ex-SRC President said government must fulfil the obligation to make sure the education remains relevant instead of contributing to its collapse. He advised students to be united and protect the right to education while urging government to make sure students are allowed to study courses of their choices that will contribute to the development of the country.
Reached for comments, Lunga Dlamini, the current President of the UNESWA SRC shared the same sentiments saying the challenges intensified in 2011 when government introduced a scholarship policy that brought education with a price tag.
“Since then the graph of education in our institutions of higher learning has been falling and on top of that, our government doesn’t work hand in hand with the universities of this country in terms of program development and improvement of technology in our institutions. It is only the Universities on their own trying, unfortunately our institutions in liquidity right now as we speak, and I fully support the idea of Mr Vilakati that government is indeed ignoring the institutions of higher learning in the country” he said.
University of Eswatini