By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – Government has promised to provide water and electricity in schools.
This was said by Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Prince Lonkhokhela today when he visited St Francis Primary School in Mbabane. Prince Lonkhokhela stated during his visit that he had gone to St Francis to hear about their problems in the school.
This is an exercise embarked upon by almost all the Cabinet ministers. They started visiting various schools last week to find out about the problems engulfing the schools across the country. Problems that stood out included the lack of electricity and water in some schools.
The case was a bit different with schools situated in Ngculwini and surrounding areas because their buildings had been damaged by storms. However, Micro Projects is working around the clock, trying to fix the damages so that pupils can go to class as soon as possible.
Speaking during his visit to St Francis Primary School, Prince Lonkhokhela said the teachers at the school did a wonderful thing by bringing it to his attention that there was lack of water and electricity at the school. He further stated that issues of water and electricity fell directly on his laps, as a minister of natural resources and energy. He said one of his duties was to ensure adequate availability of water and electricity. “I will also inform the Cabinet about the problem so that we can find solutions to it,” Prince Lonkhokhela said.
The minister also raised a concern over the fact that the teachers, particularly at St Francis Primary School, had been quiet over this problem. The minister believed that if the teachers had raised this issue a long time ago, something would have been done by now to address the problem. He said the teachers used to go the Ministry of Education and Training to ask for books and stationery.
He advised that during such times, the teachers should also plead with Government to avail water and electricity in their schools. He further implored the teachers to also state that the rate at which they paid for the water and electricity should also be reduced so that the schools could be able to pay efficiently for these commodities.
