Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Minister of Education and Training, Owen Nxumalo intervened at Phemba Primary School, where about half of the pupils were not attending classes.
Phemba Primary School has an enrolment of 155 pupils and is located at Dvokolwako in the Hhohho Region, but it services children from Mantshonga under the Manzini Region. For the past three weeks, about 83 of the pupils attended classes, while the remaining 72 remained at home.
This comes after the operations of the school were accommodated at Philani Maswati Charity Organisation’s Old Age Home at Mantshonga, as the pupils were unable to reach the institution. This was due to the fact that floods washed away the suspended bridge (tebetebe), which connected the community to the school. This happened last year and as such, the minister visited the school yesterday to meet its administration, parents and other stakeholders.
Suspended
However, government constructed a new suspended bridge and after finishing it (earlier this year), the Ministry of Education and Training, through the office of the Hhohho Regional Education Officer (REO) orders that teaching and learning should be conducted at the school premises. However, according to the Hhohho REO Nkosinathi Nkambule, the head teacher of the school reported that some parents were not happy with the decision. In fact, he said he was told that they were against it.
As a result, some of children had not been attending classes for about three weeks now, as their parents were against the ministry’s decision. According to the REO, the parents argued that the school was far, the path to the institution passed through thick forests – which posed danger to the children and that the suspended bridge was not safe for the pupils.
Engage
Minister Nxumalo promised Phemba Primary School stakeholders that he would engage another gear. This, he said, he would do in order for government, in particular the ministry, to make the construction of the school a priority for the safety of the children. Therefore, he promised the school’s stakeholders that he would take the matter up with Cabinet and within three weeks, he and his team would visit the community to assess progress at the construction site.
He said he was saying this because he had seen the forest which the parents were talking about and that path was not safe for children. Again, he said he had seen that the school was far from the community, which was something that was against the international conventions which the country signed.
Highlighted
The minister said apart from the school which was built at Maphiveni, he highlighted when schools were supposed to open in January, some of the institutions under Mafutseni Constituency, including Mhubhe High School, were affected by hailstorm. He said the hailstorm left the schools with no roofing, they managed to fix everything, including windows in three weeks.
On another note, the minister thanked Their Majesties and Philani Maswati Charity Organisation Chairman Lutfo Dlamini for allowing the school to do teaching and learning at the old age home during the crisis. He said as a ministry, they were yet to go to Their Majesties to express their appreciation.
Thereafter, the stakeholders, including a representative of Dvokolwako Royal Kraal, applauded the minister.
In response, the parents promised the minister that they would send their children to school from Monday.
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