quality:corruption, information:classification
Education

Education in Eswatini begins with pre-school education for infants, primary, secondary and high school education for general education and training, and universities and colleges at the tertiary level. Pre-school education is usually for children 5-years or younger; after that, a student can enroll in a primary school anywhere in the country. Early childhood care and education centres take the form of preschools or neighbourhood care points. In the country 21.6% of preschool age children have access to early childhood education. Primary education begins at age six. It is a seven-year programme that culminates with an end-of-primary-school examination in grade 7 which is a locally based assessment administered by the Examinations Council through schools.

The secondary and high school education system is a five-year programme divided into three years junior secondary and two years senior secondary. There is an external public examination (Junior Certificate) at the end of the junior secondary that learners must pass to progress to the senior secondary level. The Examinations Council of Swaziland administers this examination. At the end of the senior secondary level, learners sit for a public examination, the Swaziland General Certificate of Secondary Education and International General Certificate of Secondary Education which is accredited by the Cambridge International Examination. A few schools offer the Advanced Studies programme in their curriculum.

There are 830 public schools including primary, secondary and high schools. There are also 34 recognised private schools with an additional 14 unrecognised private schools. The largest number of schools is in the Hhohho region. Education is free at primary level, mainly first through the fourth grade and also free for orphaned and vulnerable children, but not compulsory. In 1996, the net primary school enrollment rate was 90.8%, with gender parity at the primary level. In 1998, 80.5% of children reached grade five.

In 1963, Waterford School, later named Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa, was founded as southern Africa's first multiracial school. In 1981, Waterford Kamhlaba joined the United World Colleges movement as the first United World College on the African continent, and the only African UWC until 2019, when UWC East Africa in Tanzania joined the movement.