By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – Government is hard at work, fixing schools that were blown by a storm, which also blew roofing of many homes at Ngculwini in the Manzini Region.
According to local media reports, the re-construction of some schools was witnessed by some Cabinet ministers, who went to some schools within the Manzini Region to assess the dire situation that need to be addressed urgently. Ministers such as Owen Nxumalo (Education and Training), Manqoba Khumalo (Commerce, Industry and Trade), and Savannah Maziya (Information, Communication and Technology) had gone to see some of the schools.
The schools that were visited included, but not limited to, St John Bosco High School, St Christopher’s High School, Mhubhe High School, St Philomena High School, Joy Mission Primary School, and Mgebiseni Primary School. There was no reported damaged at the first two schools listed above. Notable damage was witnessed in the other schools.
However, contractors hired by Government, through Micro Projects, were seen fixing schools such as Mhubhe, St Philomena, Joy Mission, and Mgebiseni. It has been noted that these schools are still not operational because of the damaged they suffered. However, the administrators of these schools told the ministers and Government officials who visited them that next week, they would start operating.
At Mhubhe, the contractors were fixing the roofing of the school and the Form 3s and 5s are expected back at school next week. Eight contractors were seen fixing the roofing and other damages that took place at St Philomena. The fixing is expected to be done after two weeks from now.
About eight classrooms had their roofing blown by the storm at Joy Mission. However, Grade 7 pupils are expected to start learning from Monday next week and the school hall will be used to learn. At Mgebiseni, it was found that windows worth E18 000 were damaged during the storm. It could not be ascertained on how they were going to continue with their learning, under the circumstances.
Ministers encouraged the pupils in these different schools to take their learning seriously because they were the future of this country. Minister Savannah Maziya encourage the St John Bosco students to respect one another and their elders and take their education seriously. She promised that if they did so, they were going to go far in life. She said she did not want to hear that they were bullying each other because that was not acceptable.
The minister also informed the pupils that the world was now making use of ICT devices, which enabled learning and work to be efficient. She encouraged the students to also give themselves time to learn about such devices. Minister Manqoba Khumalo also promised that Government was working to make sure that education improved and the condition became conducive for the pupils to learn.
He said it was important for pupils to be happy while undergoing their learning process. He said during Sibaya, education was one of the issues that were raised by Emaswati, who wanted conditions of children and teachers to be improved. Khumalo said Government was working to ensure that such a improvements happened. He said the availability of food, water and teachers could be fixed urgently. He said the damage of building in schools could take some time to be fixed. He said Government was working on all those things.
