By Bahle Gama
Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko says 364 temporary teachers and employment of Early Childhood Care and Development teachers will be permanently employed.
This is courtesy of the E65 million budget set aside for the current financial year by the government of Eswatini.
Speaking during a press conference, Maseko said that His Majesty’s Government has in the medium term, endeavoured to absorb the ever-escalating number of temporary teachers in the Ministry of Education and Training into the permanent and pensionable establishment.
This is an incremental process that began in the 2023/24 financial year, whereby a total of 942 temporary teachers were converted into permanent and pensionable establishments; 686 of which were allocated to Primary schools, 104 to Secondary schools, and 152 to High schools.
“Government has, once again, been able to set aside a budget of E65 million for the current financial year 2024/25 to accommodate a further conversion of 364 temporary teachers and employment of Early Childhood Care and Development teachers into permanent establishment,” Maseko said.
He disclosed that 80 positions have been created to further absorb temporary teachers into the permanent establishment.
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In total, 364 temporary teachers have been absorbed into the permanent establishment this financial year.
Maseko also assured the nation and all stakeholders of the government’s commitment towards continuously converting the temporary teachers to permanent establishments on an annual basis, funds allowing, until the situation is fully normalised.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education and Training Owen Nxumalo said when he received the news about the conversion of the temporary teachers, he was able to have a good night’s rest because as a ministry they were not at ease that there were teachers who had been working temporarily for an extended period.
“Because of that, these teachers were unable to be assisted even in banks, and it was also addressed during the People’s Parliament (Sibaya). We are thankful that the cabinet heard us, and we are seeing solutions coming into play after emaSwati have spoken,” he said.
He further thanked principal secretaries (PS) who are controlling officers for the roles they play in the respective Ministries to ensure that service is delivered to emaSwati and urged the teachers who will be permanently employed to continue working hard and execute their duties diligently in the process.
|
POST TITLE |
POST CODE |
GRADE |
NUMBER OF POSTS |
|
Primary Teacher |
EDN069 |
C3 |
120 |
|
Secondary Teacher |
EDN044 |
C3 |
64 |
|
Secondary Teacher I |
EDN036 |
C3 |
100 |
Minister apologises for food delivery delay
Minister of Education and Training Owen Nxumalo has extended apologies to all stakeholders for the delay in delivering food at schools in the country.
In a brief address, Nxumalo said one issue that has been a major concern is food at schools.
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“We would like to notify the nation that we are working on it, we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience, procurement issues cause a delay, but it won’t be long before food is delivered to schools. We apologise to headteachers as well,” he said.
He further addressed another concern which is the payment for Free Primary Education (FPE) that has not been received by some schools, which he said is a report that came as a surprise as they had done their best to cover all schools.
However, he emphasised that these issues will be addressed with the utmost urgency and attention they require.
