Government will intensify efforts of improving the quality of education in the Kingdom.

The Minister for Education and Training Phineas Magagula says since the country has successfully rolled-out Free Primary Education (FPE) to its last phase, it is now focusing on the quality of education.

He was speaking at the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) IV workshop held at the Royal Swazi Sun Convention Centre.

The Minister observed that Swaziland has achieved universal access to primary education, with a net enrolment rate above 95%.

“This has been in part due to the FPE programme that the country introduced in 2010,” he said, adding that the programme was introduced in phases because of budgetary constraints and it is now covering the whole primary level.

The Ministry, through the National Curriculum Centre, is now engaged in curriculum reform where a “competency based curriculum” is being developed for the primary school level.

“The workshop has come at a time when ministers of education in Africa are from attending a meeting in Kigali, Rwanda where they were assessing progress that countries have made towards achieving the Education For All (EFA) goals,” he remarked.

Magagula noted that SACMEQ III results have indicated that Swaziland is doing well in educational inputs such as textbooks, stationery, teachers and the provision of per capita grant of more than E560 for all public primary school children.

.