Primary school years
The Kingdom of Swaziland made impressive strides to expand access to primary education after independence in 1968. Communities took the initiative to build schools and initially hired teachers whose salaries were eventually taken over by Government. Curricula were determined centrally, but management of the schools was left with local School Committees and Head teachers who were also responsible for setting school fees to cover running costs of the schools. Children had easy access to education as the system rapidly expanded into the early 1990s, in sync with the country’s rapid economic growth and prosperity. A strong extended family tradition helped children whose parents were too poor and could not pay school fees. However, from the late 1990s, the educational sector started experiencing reversals due to economic stagnation and poverty. Increasingly, it became difficult for families to pay school fees. Large numbers of children were sent home every term for lack of payment, and the disruptions resulted in very high repetition rates and outright drop-outs. The heavy impact of AIDS illnesses and deaths among family breadwinners during the latter part of the decade began to undermine extended family networks of support. Increasing absenteeism among ill teachers also impacted negatively on quality of education. Net enrolment rates began a decline around 1998 and continued through 2003. A 1999 assessment of the impact of HIV and AIDS on the education projected a 30 percent increase in children not enrolled in primary schools by 2015 (source: MOE 1999 Impact assessment of HIV/AIDS on the Education Sector). The state of the child at the primary school level was further impacted by severe food shortages caused by drought in three of the four regions. School drop-out rapidly escalated under these conditions. In 2002, a rapid assessment of the impact of the drought on school children in communities hardest hit by the drought found that 80 percent of children were coming to school without breakfast and going home without eating lunch. Teachers reported children fainting in class. Learning under these conditions was difficult at best. Currently, Swaziland has 555 primary schools, with total enrolment of about 221,000 pupils, made up of 48 percent girls and 52 percent boys, and a teacher to pupil ratio of 1:33 (source :CSO Education Statistics 2005).
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