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L'Education
est perçue comme une planche de salut au Swaziland
Par James Hall,
Inter Press Service |
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 MBABANE,
10 mars (IPS) - Mis en difficulté par un taux de chômage de
45 pour cent et dévasté par un fort taux d'infection au HIV
d'au moins 25 pour cent, le Swaziland a décidé que son salut
sera dans l'éducation poussée de ses populations. |
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| "C'est
seulement à travers l'instruction que nous pouvons apprendre
les manières de nous protéger contre une épidémie", affirme
l'agent de santé Thandi Mabusa. L'ancien ministre de l'Education,
Solomon Dlamini, croit que les gens qui ont une base solide
dans l'entrepreneuriat ont de fortes chances de trouver un emploi
et de s'assumer financièrement. |
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| "Une
évidence empirique montre que la qualité de vie d'un être humain
a de forts liens avec son niveau d'instruction", a dit le ministre
des Finances, John Carmichael, lors de la présentation au Parlement
du budget 2000 qui alloue un taux record de 28 pour cent des
dépenses budgétaires au secteur de l'éducation. |
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Le
programme de Réforme économique et sociale du gouvernement,
lancé en septembre dernier avec beaucoup de fanfare, a fait
mention du lien entre un mode de vie élevé et le niveau d'instruction
des gens. La majorité des Swazis sont pauvres.
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| Le
plan de politique appelle à un accroissement d'un pour cent
par an des dépenses du gouvernement sur l'éducation. |
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| But
while government pays teachers' salaries, universal free education
is beyond the treasury's capacity. Cash-strapped parents must
pay school fees, and these can be an onerous burden for the
rural poor. |
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| If
one child has to be selected to receive education, it is generally
the boy in Swazi society. Swazi women are financially disenfranchised,
suffer unwanted pregnancies because of ignorance of reproductive
health issues and are victims of HIV virus. |
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| Non-governmental
organisations are at the forefront of education reform in Swaziland.
Their message is being heard by traditional authorities in sub-Saharan
Africa's last absolute monarchy, who decide what is to be taught
in classrooms, and how. |
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| It
also helps that the polygamous King Mswati has five wives whose
education level far surpasses queens of the past. Last year,
Queen LaMbikisa acquired her law degree, and she intends to
use her royal status as a pulpit to encourage women's education.. |
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Her husband, the king, seems to agree that education
rather than military expenditure, favoured by some neighbouring
states, should be a national priority. |
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| Delivering
this year's State of the Kingdom address, he emphasised the
need for those in school to stay there, and decried teenage
pregnancies that mean automatic expulsion for girl students.
Mswati encouraged his older subjects to take advantage of adult
literacy classes that since the 1960s have taught thousands
of illiterate Swazis to read and write. |
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| Donor
money to finance micro-projects, community co- operatives, and
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is readily available through
grants from the European Union, the United States, the Republic
of China and other friends of Swaziland. |
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| But
business skills and practical knowledge are required to create
and sustain these enterprises. Finance Minister Carmichael reported
to Parliament that new funds intended for ''pre- vocational
education, which is aimed at switching emphasis away from institutional
training to industry based training.'' |
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| Says
primary school teacher Agnes Motsa, ''Learning job skills is
not enough, children have to be taught to think imaginatively
and to conceive solutions.'' |
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| Such
an approach is the opposite of the colonial-era education provided
by missionary schools: pedagogy that was aimed at producing
low-level bureaucrats but not managers, technicians but not
innovators. In subtle ways, this legacy persists. |
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| King
Mswati launched a 25-year National Development Strategy last
year with the view that ''our school curriculum for basic education
must be designed to foster creative and inquisitive minds.''
He also emphasised flexibility. |
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| A
traditional nation besieged by economic and health crises, for
which history has offered no precedent, will need flexible thinking
for its survival, not only in education but in culture. |
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| ''Education
will lead the way,'' says social worker Kenneth Dlamini. Educated
women will ''band together to form businesses and co-operatives,
despite the constraints of a patriarchal culture. We are already
seeing this.'' |
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| In
Swaziland, communities build their own schools on communal land
granted by chiefs. But many schools lack electricity and running
water, and children who are often undernourished must walk long
distances to attend classes. |
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| This
affects their ability to study well. With help from international
donors and an Education Ministry programme changes are underway,
including the introduction of the first computers in rural schools
in April. |
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| For
the first time resources are being taken outside the urban centres,
which policymakers hope will stop the migration out of the rural
areas. Currently, many rural children migrate to towns for better
education. |
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| ''The
national leadership seems to have its priorities straight,''
says schoolteacher Motsa. |
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| This
article is free of copyright restrictions and can be reproduced
provided that Inter Press Service is credited. |
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