About william pitcher college
William Pitcher College was established in September 1962 and started with fifty (50) students. Programmes offered at that time included T4 (Primary Lower) and T3 (Primary Higher). The enrolment in each programme was twenty five (25) students and the duration of the training was two (2) years. The main reason for the establishment of the college was to supply qualified teachers to the Primary Schools, since there was still a lot of emphasis on Primary School education.
After Independence the need for Secondary School education was felt which led to the expansion of existing secondary schools and establishment of new ones. In order to meet the need for Secondary School teachers, the then two (2) year Secondary Teachers Certificate programme was started in 1970. At the same time, the T4 and T3 programmes were revised and replaced with the two (2) year Primary Teachers Certificate programme which started in 1971. Before the college was affiliated to the University of Swaziland, the graduands were certified by the Ministry of Education.
In 1975, the college started offering an In-service Home Economics Course for qualified serving Primary School Teachers. This was a one year programme.
As from 1986 the Primary and Secondary Teachers Certificate programmes were phased out and replaced with three (3) year Diploma programmes; Primary and Secondary Teachers’ Diploma.
In the 1980’s the country felt a shortage of Secondary School teachers due to an exodus of teachers to the Republic of South Africa, hence the need to train more Secondary School Teachers. The Primary Teachers Diploma programme was then phased out in order to increase intake for the Secondary Teachers Diploma programme. The last graduands for the Primary Teachers Diploma completed their course in November1993. Also, the one-year Home Economics Certificate course which was started in 1975 was stopped in 2004 and thereafter the college concentrated only in the Secondary Teachers Diploma programme.
The college has continued being the only institution in the country concentrating in the training of Secondary School Teachers in Education/Professional Studies, English, SiSwati, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, and Religious Education. Support subjects include Music and Physical Education.
The introduction of Free Primary Education in Swaziland necessitated the re-introduction of the Primary Teachers’ Diploma programme in August 2009. Currently, the college runs two programmes; Primary and Secondary Teachers Diploma.