BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – A step in the right direction!
Out of the 364 teachers that government committed herself to employ on permanent basis this year, the Ministries of Public Service and that of Education and Training have managed to so far convert 57 from April 2024 to June 2024.
This is contained in the 2024/25 First Quarter Performance Report of the Ministry of Education and Training. In June this year, Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko and Minister of Education and Training announced that this year, 364 temporary teachers would be converted as permanent and pensionable teachers.
An amount of E65 million has been set for this task, which is set to be done in the 2024/25 financial year. The report states that seven professionals have been appointed as head teachers, while 12 of them were appointed as deputy head teachers. Eleven teachers were promoted from C3 to C5, while 24 of them were confirmed.
The report further states that 68 teachers were still employed on temporary basis, while 15 of them had gone on maternity leave. There are 12 teachers who went on sick leave and 116 of them had been transferred during this quarter. What is unfortunate is that 10 teachers passed away during this quarter, something that has surely affected the teaching profession in a negative way.
According to the report, 17 teachers went on early retirement during this quarter, while six of the teachers had their retirement deferred. Teachers who went on compulsory retirement are 43, while six of them retired on medical grounds. The report also states that five teachers resigned during this quarter. Below is a table showing activities done by the TSC in the 2024/25 first quarter:
During the June press conference, Minister Maseko said His Majesty’s Government had, in the medium term, endeavoured to absorb the ever-escalating number of temporary teachers in the Ministry of Education and Training into the permanent and pensionable establishment.
Maseko said this was an incremental process that began in the 2023/2024 financial year, whereby a total of 942 temporary teachers were converted into permanent and pensionable establishment. He further said 686 of these teachers were allocated to primary schools, while 104 of them were allocated to secondary schools and 152 to high schools.
According to Maseko, the 364 teachers will be absorbed into 284 posts that are currently vacant. He further mentioned that Government would further create 80 more posts to absorb the temporary teachers. Of the 284 posts, 120 of them are in primary schools, 64 of them are in secondary schools, while 100 of them are in secondary schools.
