From distinguished beginnings …
Established in Eswatini in 1979, Macmillan is at the forefront of educational development in the country. The company’s commitment to education has enabled it to develop unprecedented expertise in Eswatini, and it remains a leader in developing educational materials in response to the demands of the country. Initially the company published English, science and maths books, but today, we provide each learner from Grade 1 to Grade 7 textbooks for each and every subject offered at Primary School. All these books are developed locally by local authors. They are therefore easy to identify with and consequently easy to understand.
Macmillan Education Eswatini strives to develop materials that engender pride in the mother tongue. Realising that there were very few siSwati authors, in 1984 Macmillan started running annual writers’ workshops and literary competitions which generated a lot of original material in drama, folklore and poetry in siSwati. Today we pride ourselves on our BaBhali BesiSwati Series.
This series has since given rise to our Munya Lulwimi Series; a series which is aimed at our young readers. In this field of children’s books, Macmillan publishes colourful, fun-filled books which are aimed at creating a culture of reading. There is no better way to understand and appreciate one’s own language than by reading books written in that language. Macmillan has therefore played a significant role in author development in the country.
One of Macmillan’s greatest strengths in Eswatini has been its mathematics publishing. A prime example is the highly successful series Project in Secondary Mathematics (PRISM). PRISM began as a collaborative venture between the mathematics panels of Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini, who worked with Macmillan on the development of the series which was designed specifically for the secondary mathematics syllabuses in those three countries. The first book was published in 1983. After the initial publication, other countries in the region took an interest in the project. Adaptations have been published for Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia.
Macmillan’s reputation internationally makes it possible for the local company to develop long lasting and positive relationships with authors and other stakeholders in the education sector. The company actively demonstrates its support for formal and non-formal, in-service and extracurricular educational activities in a number of ways. It continues to forge partnerships with relevant organisations to provide support in the form of workshops, training and seminars which seek to promote the culture of reading in the country.
Now part of a much bigger publishing picture...
Over the years the structure of the Macmillan Publishing group has shifted to expand in different sectors and markets. Today Macmillan Education is one piece of a much bigger publishing picture. We are part of Springer Nature, a major new force in scientific, scholarly, professional and educational publishing.
Macmillan Education Eswatini is “Your Partner in Education”.