In March, Eswatini declared a state of emergency and closed schools to contain the spread of coronavirus. As a result, 350,000 students and nearly 16,000 teachers were immediately impacted, and home has become their new classroom.

A few weeks later, GPE allocated a US$70,000 grant to the government of Eswatini– channeled through a global initiative with UNICEF. The grant aims to plan for activities to ensure children continue learning during this unprecedented time while developing safe practices for when schools reopen. The grant is playing a key role in helping the government minimize the disruptions to learning caused by the pandemic.

Lessons through TV, radio and newspapers

With GPE’s grant and UNICEF’s technical support, the government of Eswatini developed an education contingency plan and rapidly established alternative learning methods through TV, radio and newspapers to facilitate continued learning from home.

Partnerships with national TV and radio stations were developed to broadcast daily lessons on core subjects for grade 7,10, and 12 students. Less than 10 days after schools were closed, the first lessons were aired on the radio and TV. As of June 4, 216 lessons have been aired in English and 51 in siSwati, the country’s national language.

Lessons are aired for 10 hours a day on national radio stations; as more than 80% of the population has access to radios, this gives most children the opportunity to access learning.

Lessons on core subjects are broadcast on TV for 3.5 hours daily and, to ensure inclusivity, offer sign language interpretation. Newspapers also include a daily feature on “education at home” from Monday to Friday.

To help children cope with feelings of anxiety, while preventing stigma and discrimination arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, a mental health and psychosocial program for students is also broadcast weekly on the radio.

Preparing for school reopening

Starting on July 6, schools have slowly started to reopen in the country. Classes will first reopen for grade 12 students and will be followed by grades 7 and 10 after two weeks of observation and adaptation.

To prepare for school reopening – and ensure the safety of students, teachers and education officials – GPE is supporting the government to create a school reopening framework and learning catch-up plans. In parallel, GPE will also support the launch of a communication campaign to encourage students to go back to school.

With support from UNICEF and other partners, the Ministry of Education and Training has started to implement the school reopening plan by training over 850 staff, teachers and stakeholders.

Several partners have been engaged in supporting sanitation and hygiene activities in school and guarantee that water, soap, handwashing facilities and hand sanitizers are available when schools reopen.

Additionally, students and staff will be screened via temperature checkpoints prior to entering school; to combat a possible spread, isolation rooms have already been identified within facilities.

Despite this rapid response, challenges remain. Alternative ways of learning are not available to all children: children from the poorest households who don’t have access to technology like TV and radio are excluded from the program, which also only targets students completing classes.

Nonetheless there have been reports of out-of-school adolescents and young adults following the lessons, allowing them access to learning possibly for the first time, a positive spin-off of the remote learning program.