This study looks at the holistic overview of enrolling a child in a public school. It intends to identify all hidden school related costs with the aim of establishing the real picture of the cost of an individual child to attend a public school in Swaziland. The study focuses on schools and communities near the targeted schools in the 20 constituencies where Save the Children is implementing its programmes.

The study revealed that despite the OVC bursary intervention by the government, there are still a lot of costs to bear that hinder access to schooling especially to OVC and as a result a number of children do not access education. These other costs include uniforms, transport (bus fare), educational trips, day school meals (pocket money), extra curriculum charges (sports), stationery and exam fee which do not form part of the components of the charge of school fees in most schools as perceived by parents.