Swaziland praises UPE

Dec 19, 2004

Swaziland minister of education, Constance Simelane, has hailed the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and called upon all parties involved in the implementation of the programme to be more focused.

By Ronald Kalyango
Swaziland minister of education, Constance Simelane, has hailed the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and called upon all parties involved in the implementation of the programme to be more focused.
“The popularity given to the UPE programme by the Government is appreciated and commendable. All participating parties in making the programme a success should continue,” Simelane said during her recent tour of the country.
State minister for Primary Education Namirembe Bitamazire told the visiting team that UPE has faced many challenges but perseverance has enabled the programme to register success.
“Our initial idea was to educate only four children per family due to insufficient funds. We didn’t have teachers and enough infrastructures, but later the programme embarked on educating all children in the country,” Bitamazire said.
The team was touring Butebere Education Child Development Primary School in Masaka.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Khiddu Makubuya, told the visiting team that Uganda spends 31% of its budget in implementing the programme and 65% of the education sector budget is allocated for primary education.
The delegation, which spent four days in the country, included Tizie Maphalaka, Constance Simelane, Pelucy Ntambirweki, Mboni Dlamini and Poppy Hlatshwayo.
Swaziland has the least population of one million, with one university, three national teachers colleges, one technical college and next year, they expect 250,000 pupils enrolling into primary schools.
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