06 Apr 2017

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Basic Education, Ms Grace Muzila has called for investment in capacity building to enhance education.

Speaking during a courtesy call by Swaziland’s Ministry of Education and Training delegation on Wednesday, Ms Muzila said capacity building in the educational setting would assist schools ability to accomplish mission, as well as help produce a learner of the 21st century.

Capacity building, Ms Muzila said involved combining elements and resources within a school to benefit all stakeholders.

She said it created and implemented programmes that would allow all members to grow by way of enhancing knowledge, skills and abilities.

She hailed the partnership with Swaziland, saying it was critical that schools incorporated efforts to increase a sense of kinship, neighbourliness and collegiality among faculties.

Ms Muzila praised the government of Botswana for continued support saying the Ministry of Education and Skills Development was re-aligned and split into the Ministry of Basic Education and the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology.

She said the ministry was awarded the largest share of the budget so that learners were given priority, schools  capacitated and eventually get the economy developed.

However, Ms Muzila informed the delegates that transformation was not always smooth.

The changes she said were without challenges stating that when the new grading system was introduced, “people had to hit the ground running” bearing in mind the need for thorough consultation.

Managing director of Macmillan Swaziland, Ms Ntomenhle Dlamini said the visit allowed them to engage and had learnt a lot.

Ms Dlamini said they established a lot of similarities in curricular reforms and curriculum framework and acknowledged that initiatives laid out in the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP) by Botswana, which were aimed at developing a lifelong mind-set for the mainstream basic education if expedited would bring positive transformation to the mainstream education. ENDS