Government pulls plug on funding for humanities students

The government of Eswatini has stopped scholarships for bachelor of arts (BA) in humanities degrees in the country’s key public higher education institution, the University of Eswatini (UNESWA), with effect from the 2025-26 academic year.

Prospective and current students who were hoping to secure public financial assistance for BA courses such as English, geography, history, religious studies and African languages from next August will now have to meet the cost of course fees and living expenses themselves.

Speaking at a press conference in October, Minister of Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi said the decision to stop providing scholarships was taken by the African kingdom’s cabinet following concerns that Eswatini BA arts and humanities students are not employable upon graduation and need an additional Postgraduate Certificate of Education or PGCE to secure jobs.

Industry needs

“It is important to note that the ministry will no longer fund the bachelor of arts in humanities programme with effect from the 2025-26 academic year as the programme does not form part of the priority areas of study. All students wishing to pursue the programme from the 2025 academic year onwards will need to be self-funded,” said Buthelezi.

He said the decision was informed by the Eswatini National Skills Audit of 2022, which concluded there were too many arts and humanities graduates in the country and they struggled to find work.

“We are also in the process of aligning with industry needs,” he said. “The decision to stop funding humanities is part of a broader re-evaluation of government priorities in tertiary education funding,” said the minister.

According to the World Bank, slightly more than half of the Eswatini economy is concentrated in services, with industry, particularly manufacturing, comprising another third. Gaps in infrastructure, notably in energy, transport and IT, are significant, said the bank.

Despite this review, Swazi humanities and arts students have been shocked by the move, especially given that it will halt funding for undergraduates who have already started their course in anticipation of receiving scholarships. For instance, third-year UNESWA humanities student Sizolwethu Shabangu (26) said the government had surprised students, who mostly discovered the move through newspapers.

“It was a reckless decision. Many students who were hoping to get a scholarship next year will be forced to drop out because their parents cannot afford to pay tuition fees next year, which are around [Eswatini lilangeni] SZL27,000 (about US$1,500), excluding the cost of accommodation and food. Upon hearing the announcement, a frustrated colleague asked me if it is possible to change programmes. I told him it wasn’t, because the university allows students to change only within the first two weeks of admission,” said Shabangu.

Regional obligations

The Eswatini Association of Higher Education Institutions told University World News the decision was not justified, given the kingdom has been tasked by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to produce a wide range of skills for the region.

Association spokesperson Sivumelwano Nyembe said: “We are actually producing for the foreign market, which is in line with the SADC mandate that was given to Swaziland [Eswatini’s former name] ... to produce human capacity within the SADC region. The government’s action is unreasonable because Swazis are not being trained for the domestic market only.”

He said: “The kingdom must agree to the free flow of labour within SADC and beyond. It is surprising that Eswatini now turns around to deny Swazis the skills that are needed by the region,” said Nyembe.

UNESWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Justice Thwala, however, was more cautious. He told the local daily Eswatini Observer that the university welcomed the decision, but highlighted the need for more engagements between the university, the ministry of labour and social security, plus the ministry of education and training to forge a way forward. His university did not respond to requests for comment from University World News.

Teacher shortage

Deputy secretary-general of the recently-formed Swaziland National Association of Teachers, Mcolisi Ngcamphalala, was more trenchant, describing the government’s decision as illogical and its analysis misguided. He recalled that the government had also stopped funding university law programmes in 2012 and forced those students to fund themselves.

Ngcamphalala said he was concerned that the ending of humanities and arts funding would worsen an existing secondary and primary school teacher shortage in Eswatini, which sees teachers overloaded with work and classrooms congested.

He said there are currently 18,000 teachers in primary and secondary schools in Eswatini, which has a population of 1.2 million.

“We provided comprehensive data to government in January this year (2024), [arguing] that about 4,000 [additional] teachers are needed to achieve efficient teaching and learning,” he said. That figure includes teachers who are currently unemployed.

“Some teachers exit the system because of death, others for greener pastures overseas. It is logical that there must be another system that will bring professionals into the sector. And the institutions of higher learning, through the departments of humanities, make it possible to replace those skills which have exited the system,” said Ngcamphalala.

He said the government had mandated a 40:1 student-teacher ratio in primary and secondary schools which he deemed excessive, but said that, in many schools, the ratio was 70:1, which makes teaching and learning very difficult.

“With such a huge number, it becomes difficult for pupils with learning difficulties. For example, a teacher cannot do the remedial exercises. It is easier in private schools where, normally, the ratio is 25:1 or 30 maximum,” he said.

Ngcamphalala claimed the decision reflected the government’s belief that it cannot afford to sustain UNESWA and other public tertiary institutions. Instead of being honest about these financing problems, it had adopted “a subtle strategy to abdicate its responsibility to educate the youth”, he said.

Political agenda

A leadership and business law lecturer at the private – but government subsidised – Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU), Friction Nhlanhla Mayisela, said Buthelezi erred by talking about an excessive number of graduates with a bachelor of arts in humanities degree because he lacked an understanding of the ongoing primary and secondary teacher shortage.

He noted that the decision would also directly impact SANU.

“It is affecting us already,” he said, explaining that SANU used to enrol about 200 students for a diploma in education every year but reductions in government support will reduce this number to 60.

Mayisela said the government’s action reflected a hidden political agenda to control and manipulate the nation’s mindset politically at a time when the kingdom’s ban on political parties is being criticised.

“We must remember that most political activists emanate from the social sciences, either majoring in politics and sociology or doing humanities and majoring in history, or probably doing law.

“Clearly, the regime doesn’t want people who will conscientise the nation about democracy and politics. The intention is to make teachers hopeless and useless, in order to create desperate citizens, which the monarch [King Mswati III] will manipulate and control easily,” said Mayisela.