7 months no pay for Plumtree High staff

Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
Plumtree High School has been failing to pay its workers employed by the School Development Association (SDA) for the past seven months because of the school’s low enrolment.

The school has an enrolment of 299 instead of more than 500.

It is failing to attract pupils because standards at the school have deteriorated over the years.

Plumtree High School employs 45 workers who are on the SDA payroll.

The affected workers are groundsmen, kitchen staff, hostel staff and other general hands.

A member of the school’s workers committee who preferred anonymity said the school authorities had indicated that low enrolment and non-payment of fees was making it difficult for workers to be paid.

“We’ve not been paid since October last year. In December we were only given $15 each.

Last year the school had 58 SDA workers including teachers and some resigned at the beginning of the year. Those who resigned had not received their salaries. The workers are frustrated because they’re expected to report for work on a daily basis but they’re not receiving their salaries. These workers have families that they are supposed to fend for,” said the workers’ committee member.

He said pupils paid $645 school fees and about $400 went towards levies which was supposed to go towards payment of SDA workers.

The workers commitee member said the lowest paid SDA worker was supposed to be paid $210 per month while the highest paid gets $320.

He said the school authorities told them that the school was failing to raise enough money to pay them.

Three of the wrokers, he said, were unfairly dismissed after they openly complained of non-payment of salaries during a meeting attended by parents held last term.

A senior staff member at the school said plans to cut down on the number of SDA workers were underway.

“The school is big and there is a lot of work to do but the enrolment is very low. The school is behind in salary payments as some of the workers have been getting just a fraction of their salaries. In a bid to rectify this problem the school authorities are making efforts to reduce the number of workers,” said the staff member.

Recent efforts by the school to boost their enrolment by introducing girls to the boys only school were fruitless after they only managed to enrol 20 Advanced Level pupils.

The school authorities had intended to enrol girls for all the classes but their efforts were shot down by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

The school’s headmaster, Sipho Khumalo said during a speech and prize giving day recently that efforts were underway to spruce up the image of the school in order to regain parents’ confidence.

He said they were struggling to enrol as the public now had the wrong perception of the school.

A number of hostels and classrooms are lying idle and the school authorities are struggling to renovate and rehabilitate some of the dilapidated buildings because they have no money.

The school also has a 500 hectare farm which is lying idle.

Plumtree High School authorities set up committees comprising pupils and staff members at the beginning of this year which were moving around primary schools in Bulawayo and neighbouring districts marketing the school.