William Pitcher College

Mission & Vision

Our Story

William Pitcher College developed from the Government Teacher Training Centre which was established in 1953 and shared the same premises with the Swazi National School in Matsapha. In 1958, a desire for a bigger teacher training institution resulted in the relocation of the training centre to Manzini. In August 1962, a Teacher Training College was officially opened in Manzini by Sir John Maud C.C.B., C.B.E. in the present William Pitcher College location. In October 1963, the College was renamed William Pitcher College in honour and memory of the late William Pitcher ESQ, OBE, who was the director of education from 1951 to 1962. Initially, the College offered T4 (Primary Lower) and T3 (Primary Higher) programmes. After the country’s national Independence in 1968, there was a dire need for Secondary School education, hence the establishment of new public schools and expansion of already operating ones. To cater for the demand of teachers, a two-year Secondary Teacher’s Certificate (STC) programme began in 1970 while the T4 and T3 programmes were revised and replaced with the two year Primary Teachers Certificate (PTC) programme. In 1986, the Primary and Secondary Teachers Certificate programmes were phased out and replaced with three (3) year Diploma programmes. In 1975, the College had started offering a one-year In-service Home Economics Course for serving Primary School Teachers. However, this programme was phased out in 2005 since the Home Economics component was already part of the Primary Teachers Diploma programme. In the 1980’s the country experienced a shortage of Junior Secondary School teachers hence the need to train more Secondary School Teachers. The Primary Teachers Diploma programme (PTD) was then phased out in order to increase intake for the Secondary Teachers Diploma programme. The last crop of the Primary Teachers Diploma completed in November 1993. Thereafter, the College concentrated in training secondary school teachers. PTD was re-introduced in 2009 since the country needed more primary school teachers due to the introduction of Free Primary Education. Currently, the College offers one programme; Secondary Teachers’ Diploma. Due to the need to train more Secondary School Teachers, in various subjects offered at the secondary school level, which are currently not offered in the secondary.

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