Parents still scrambling for spaces as schools open 

By Bahle Gama

On the first day of school, parents have been scrambling for places for their children in the different schools around Mbabane.

When a team from the Eswatini Daily News visited the schools, queues were found, where visibly frustrated parents and their children were impatiently waiting to be attended to at the administration blocks.

During interviews, parents disclosed that they had come to look for a place and most of these were for Grade One pupils. In response to what caused them to delay doing so on time instead of arriving on the day when schools officially open, most parents cited financial problems as the main reason.

“Most schools I went to required that I pay a certain amount to secure my child a place, unfortunately, I didn’t have at the time, now that I do, there is no place,” said a frustrated parent.

Others opted to arrive at the school with their children already donned in the uniform despite not being enrolled officially.

“It’s a strategy I think will allow for my child to secure a place at the school, they can’t turn her back when she’s already in a full uniform,” said another parent.

Other parents were at the schools because they had not collected stationery on time and their children had no school uniform, which too was attributed to financial issues. Some teachers in these schools revealed that space would be difficult to secure, and parents should have started looking last year.

“Nowadays you need to start looking for a place the year before, especially for the first Grade, I don’t understand why parents love doing things last minute, it is quite tedious,” said one teacher.