There is light at the end of the tunnel for contract teachers in the country.
This is because Minister of Education and Training Owen Nxumalo has hinted that he intended to lobby Cabinet on behalf of the ministry to consider implementing a conversion exercise that will see all contract teachers being holistically converted into being permanently employed educators, once and for all.
According to the minister, the exercise of converting contract teachers into permanent employees was already underway, but it was occurring at a snail’s pace, hence the need to cost the whole exercise and implement it once and for all.
Nxumalo revealed this on Friday during the commemoration of World Teachers’ Day (WTD) 2025 at Mavuso Sports Centre.
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The minister said his ministry was optimistic that all the challenges faced by teachers would soon be resolved.
He highlighted that they believe that the civil servants salary adjustment, which was approved by Cabinet subsequent to the completion of the salary review exercise, will play a vital role in addressing some of the challenges faced by teachers in the country.
Nxumalo further urged teachers to continue having a good and peaceful relationship with government.
“Where there are challenges, we should sit down and resolve them amicably as His Majesty has asked the nation to grant him the gift of peace,” he said. Nxumalo said so far, they had a good relationship with teachers.
He said what was disturbing was that the teachers were earning meagre salaries, yet they were employed on contractual basis.
Nxumalo stated that it was unfortunate that government did not have sufficient funds at the moment and therefore the conversion was being done in phases.
According to Nxumalo, there were contract teachers who were about to retire after being employed on contract for over 10 years, something which was contrary to what His Majesty had assigned them to address as Cabinet.
He stated that the teacher’s situation should not be worse off.
Meanwhile, Swaziland National Teachers Association (SNAT) President Mbongwa Dlamini said teachers worldwide were the ones that lead development.
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“Without education, there is no country that will ever develop,” he said.
He added that teaching was referred to as the mother of all professions because without it, there will be no any other (profession).
He stated that during the commemoration of the WTD, they celebrated their achievements and also recalled the success they had after triumphing over struggles they faced as teachers.
Dlamini mentioned that in yesteryears, it was very difficult for them to celebrate the WTD as the no-work-no-pay principle would be effected by their employer, but they were very grateful that government has since come to a point, whereby it realises the importance of allowing teachers to commemorate the WTD without any threat. He pointed out that in other countries, it was either government or the employer who celebrated teachers by hosting the WTD. but in the country that was not the case as SNAT was solely responsible for hosting the WTD through the assistance of members’ subscriptions and support from their esteemed partners.
“We are hoping and looking forward to a time where government will host the WTD. We are grateful for the fact that of late, we have seen some businesspeople also lending a helping hand to ensure that the WTD because a resounding success,” he said.
Dlamini mentioned that this was an indication that Emaswati have now seen the need of valuing teachers, whom they entrust with their children since they (children) spend most of their time with the educators.
“Teachers have the power to decide the kind of citizens that a country should have in the next 10 years so if you mistreat them, you should know that you are going to breed an angry nation,” he said.
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