School Fees

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. I have been running around like a madman trying to help different CarePoint kids get into school. The Swazi educational system is a bit crazy. The students must pay school fees which is a significant portion of most Swazi's income. This is a real strain for our CarePoint kids because they come from extremely poor families.

The youth have it tough in Manzini because it is extremely hard to find a place in school. High schools are overcrowded in Manzini and often even if you come up with the money the school turns students away. This forces young people that do not have money to find a way to travel anywhere between 10km - 30km to school. The students pass their Grade 7 (high school entrance exam) exam but still cannot find decent schools to go to. It is stressful. This is repeated in Form 4 where students take a Junior Certificate Exam. Often if you do not do well on this exam your school will kick you out in favor of other students. This is frustrating because the students pass the exam but still fail to retain a spot in their school, forcing them to look again.

Finally the last observation I can make is that the timing of this process is terrible. The Grade 7 exam results come out 1 and 1/2 weeks before the first year of High School starts. This puts enormous strain on parents, school administration, students and espcially the school secretaries.

Having said all this, God has been good and most the kids that I'm aware of have found a place in school. I also realize that a school system that lacks money cannot function very well. Between school shortages, teacher shortages and other obstacles the Swazi school system has to fight a lot of negative factors in order to educate students. Hopefully it will improve as more dialogue begins.

If you'd like to help Children's Cup send kids to school please go to the Cup Website and designate the money for 2009 Project: Cup Kid to School or send a check to PO Box 400, Prairieville, LA 70769. Love y'all thanks!