BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Parents are happy with the intervention of Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thulisile Dladla concerning the payment of deposit fees in schools.
Many schools around the country have been ordering parents to ensure that their children have paid deposit fees before being allowed to be in the schools. The stance taken by the schools have come as a shock to many parents and this caused them to complain, stating that they did not have the deposits demanded by the schools.
In response to the parents’ complaints, DPM Dladla (working with officials from her office) issued a notice last week, calling upon all parents and guardians of children whose education was paid for under the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programme to register with her office so that they could go back to school.
The registration is still ongoing. Reacting to the position taken by the DPM on this regard, Eswatini Schools Committee and Parents Association (ESCAPA) President Sisana Mamba said the action taken by Dladla was good news to them, as parents. Speaking to Eswatini TV, Mamba said they felt as though she had done a great thing to intervene in this instance.
“Many parents are unemployed in most parts of the country and there is totally no food to eat and that shows that we just do not have the money. We commend what is done by Government because it gives us hope that even though we live under such circumstances, our children will be able to get educated,” Mamba said.
DPMO Director of Social Welfare Mcusi Shongwe, speaking to Eswatini TV, said he was not in a position to reveal the number of learners who visited his office to register, as directed by the DPM. Shongwe hoped that as the week progressed, he would be able to state how many children had registered under this programme.
Meanwhile, the DPMO has announced that the registration deadline has been postponed to next week Monday (March 18, 2024). The registration deadline was supposed to be today (March 13, 2024). The DPMO asks for cooperation from the nation, while the registration continues.
