Some learners at Ngwane (formerly Ngwane Park) High School have not written the mock examinations because of outstanding fees.
Sources close to the matter claimed that the Headteacher Dalton Kunene resolved not to allow the pupils into the examination room because their parents had not settled their school fees.
Pupils who had partly paid their fees were also allegedly barred because the headteacher expected that monies due to the school should have been paid by the time the trial examination commenced.
The school is located at Ngwane Park, one of the six chiefdoms under Manzini South Constituency, whose Member of Parliament (MP) is Owen Nxumalo, who doubles as the Minister of Education and Training.
In letters that had been written to parents on July 16, the headteacher allegedly expressed that the situation was dire as school coffers were dry.
To highlight the predicament faced by the institution as a result of the shortage of funds, the headteacher said they could not even afford money to purchase stationery, which included papers and ink to print out the mock examination papers, and other items needed for practical subjects.
“Loku kusiphocelela kutsi imock examination inikwe labo labacedzile kubhadala kuphela,” reads the letter that was written in vernacular.
In translation, this means, “The aforementioned challenges forced the school to only allow pupils whose fees were settled to write the mock examination.”
The letter further claimed that parents had failed to keep their promise to pay their children’s fees on July 7, and that parents were allowed a new deadline, which was last Friday, July 18. After payment of the money on the set date, the headteacher had informed the parents that their children would be allowed to continue with the exam.
However, some parents who have not yet settled the fees expressed concerns of whether their children would be allowed to sit the exam on a later date since they had not managed to settle the fees on July 18. They wondered if there would be time for the learners to write, more so because teachers were most likely to be busy marking the written exam scripts. Other parents said though they had not settled the fees, it did not mean that the school did not have resources to print out the exam papers.
“He ordered the learners with owed fees out of the examination room, but those who managed to sneak in were afforded exam papers. This means that the school had the needed resources, but the administration decided not to allow them to write,” a parent claimed.
Additionally, the concerned parents were of the view that the headteacher should have allowed the owing pupils to sit the examination, more so because the fees would eventually be settled.
“At first, he sent the owing children home while others were writing. However, he later had those with outstanding fees stay in the school hall instead of allowing them out of the school premises. This is frustrating,” said the parents. Efforts to engage the headteacher proved futile as his cellphone number was unavailable on the network. When the school’s landline number was called, the Deputy Headteacher Busi Dlamini said Kunene was not around.
After being told what the call was about, she said only the headteacher had authority to speak about the issue. However, Manzini Regional Education Office (REO) Sizwe Kunene said although he had been working remotely from the office, he was aware of concerns by parents with children at Ngwane High School. He said not allowing pupils to sit the examination due to owed fees was wrong, especially because it is still the middle of the academic year. Kunene said the administration should have at least engaged parents on payment plans, instead.
“Officials from my office will attend to this matter,” assured Kunene.
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