Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Ministry of Education and Training has issued an official notice about the stoppage of the South African National Senior Certificate (NSC) in all Eswatini Secondary Schools, known as Matric.
Acting Principal Secretary (PS) in the ministry Naniki Mnisi said this followed the stoppage of the offer of the NSC outside the borders by the South African Department of Basic Education in terms of the law of the Republic of South Africa (SA). “The Constitution of SA (Section 231) does not confer any power on the executive to make the law of the Republic of SA applicable to other countries, hence the inability of the Ministry of Education and Training to enter into an agreement with SA on a special arrangement to offer NSC in Eswatini,” Mnisi said.
Stakeholders
She advised all concerned stakeholders to take note of the situation about the offer of the NSC curriculum, adding that they should comply with the current position of the ministry and consult if need be. Director of Pro-Learning Ernest Magongo, who was at the forefront working with the ministry on the Matric issue, stated that this was water under the bridge for schools offering NSC in the country as they had switched the programme. Magongo said SA stated that it would no longer offer Matric outside their borders as per their laws which did not allow for such. He said they were now offering the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) syllabus, which is another form of Matric, adding that Form II learners were sitting for the International Senior Certificate (ISC). “There is no single school that will be offering the NSC in the country,” he said in an interview. Currently, he said the learners were sitting for the IEB trials in the various schools, which would be followed by exams.
Programme
Magongo said the ISC was offered by schools that were providing the IEB programme in Eswatini, Mozambique and Namibia. Meanwhile, he warned parents to desist from registering their children in SA public schools for the Matric syllabus simply because it was cheaper than IEB. Magongo said if parents took their children to SA government schools, they would not be able to sit or register for the examinations without study permits. He said if the learners were enrolled in a public in SA, it was impossible for them to quickly secure a study permit.
He noted though that the IEB programme was expensive and an examination cost around E8 000, which was a lot of money compared to what the parents were paying for the discontinued Matric syllabus.
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