Africa-Press – Eswatini. I have been following closely the debates about the opening of schools for the academic year 2022, and I must begin by commending the Education Ministry on remaining resolute and surging forward as planned.
We are in a period where as a nation, we need to make extraordinary decisions and show astute leadership to reverse the adverse effects of COVID-19. The education system has been hit hard and we need such stark leadership as demonstrated by the ministry if we are to manage saving the current generation of scholars from serious intergenerational repercussions. I will try and weigh in on the conversation and I will start by shinning some light on the impacts of a delayed opening of schools.
Costs of delayed opening
Note that I am giving a normative account of the likely costs and impacts of delaying the opening of schools. COVID-19 effectively took away two academic years from our children. The impacts of the loss of schooling are very broad and will have intergenerational effects. We need to exert maximum effort in ensuring that we close the education gap between the rich and the poor. Education became commercialised during the COVID-19 era, it was accessible largely to those who could afford data and schools with adequate online educational facilities.
Hence, expediting the opening of schools will go a long way to close this gap and will trickle into closing the income gap well into the future. Furthermore, given the challenges that the nation faces, school is not only a place for learning, it is also a place for nurturing the growth and intellectual intelligence of the young generation. It is a place where we horn inter-personal skills development, which are crucial for an effective human capital product.
Furthermore, the threat of COVID-19 still looms over our heads; we need to ensure that we can cover as much ground as possible, lest it resurges. I therefore commend the ministry for being resolute on the opening. The costs are not just the school fees and the uniforms being paid, but there is an entire generation at stake. It is for their sake that we need to bend together as a nation and put in the extraordinary efforts to save this generation.
Meeting point
As we bend together as a nation in a bid to save the future generation, we need to come to rest at a central meeting point. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, otherwise history will not judge us well if we fail the future generation. It is for this reason that we need to make concessions to safeguard the future. We need to bend the procedures a bit; allow children into classrooms even if the deposits have not been paid, at least until the next pay day. Let us not be too stringent on the uniform requirements for our learners. If we all do our bit, the enormous expenses associated with the first term can at least be spread across the month. It is common understanding that the costs are too high and none of us had enough time to prepare, but we can at least spread them across the month or the next two months. There are also considerations to be made on the teaching and the administration staff, given fatigue and high burnout rates.
Ever since COVID-19 started, most of us have not had a chance to rest given the demands of online work. I do implore the educators and teachers to hold on just a bit longer, we are on crunch mode which we hope, all things being equal, will end with this academic year. We urge the employer to improve on the benefits package for the human resource, so that they can afford the requisite self-care during this period. It will be rough and demanding; on the human resources I call on government to consider a bonus system for our educators, at least for this year. They are in the frontlines of protecting and safeguarding the future, and we should also take care of them as a nation.
Expedient delivery from government
We hope that the ministry and the whole government machinery will continue to embody this visionary leadership in a bid to safeguard the future. We need commitment from government that all schools will be adequately resourced, so that they are not frustrated by resource problems. We hope the government machinery will release all grants on time, all vacant positions within schools will be filled on time. We are fortunate that the new school year starts as we start a new financial year, and these payments need to be prioritised. Furthermore, I will re-iterate my call to the ministry, we need to take care of the human resource. We are counting on them to work extraordinarily to save an entire generation, we do hope that government will also take care of them; we will owe a debt of gratitude to them. A recovery requires an accelerated effort by all and sundry, we need to put in the effort as there is an entire generation at stake.
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