SWAZILAND CATEGORY 2: REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION Part 1: Request for written information The following questions were sent to the Ministry of Education and Training: 1. Does your office have an information desk? 2. Does your office have a website? 3. If so, how often is your website updated? And who is in charge of your website? 4. There have been public complaints about the manner in which schools introduce top-up fees in lower grades. Most parents have observed that these fees end up taking away the free primary education which ought to be enjoyed by all primary school children. What is the ministry doing to ensure that this program is in fact fully free for all primary school children? 5. How does the ministry work with the scholarship selection board to ensure that all qualifying students receive quality tertiary education? 6. How do you promote access to information, so that citizens can be informed? n = 20 Yes No Additional Information 1. Is there an official designated to take and respond to information requests? (Please state title of officials in ‘Additional Information’) s Requests are handled by the Principal Secretary (a senior official) 2. Did the institution reply within 21 days? (If less than 7 please state in ‘Additional Information’) s There was no response at all 3. Did the Institution respond to a request for information? s There was no response to the written requests 4. Does the authority publish their procedures for dealing with information requests? s 5. Did the institution provide all of the information requested? (If partially please mark ‘No’, indicate in ‘Additional Information’ how much of the information requested was supplied) s 6. Did the institution provide written reasons for the refusal of information? (If information was not refused, please contact institution to find out what the policy is in this regard – if they supply written reasons for refusal mark ‘Yes’) s 7. Did the institution disclose information about its operations, budgets, structure etc. s 8. Did the authority provide information without questioning the aims and motivations of the applicant? s 9. Did the institution acknowledge your request for information within 7 days? s There was no feedback from the ministry 10. Was the information received clear and understandable? s There was no information received Total Score: 0/20 Part 2: Request for oral information Please note that there was no opportunity for an oral information session because the official was consistently unavailable. Oral questions asked that would have been asked had the opportunity been given: 1. How does the scholarship policy benefit underprivileged students? 2. How does the ministry communicate with schools and their students? 3. Does the ministry use social media to connect with young people? n = 20 Yes No Additional Information 1. Is there an official designated to take and respond to information requests? (Please state title of officials in ‘Additional Information’) s Requests for information are handled by the PS, a senior official 2. Did the institution reply within 21 days? (If less than 7 please state in ‘Additional Information’) s There was no feedback from the ministry 3. Did the institution respond to your oral request for information? s The official was not available to attend to the request 4. Did the person dealing with your request have a friendly and helpful attitude? s The junior officers were friendly but could not assist with the information required 81