Some school authorities continue to send pupils home for non-payment of fees which is against Government policy.
Government has repeatedly warned school authorities against disrupting pupils’ learning by sending them home for failure to pay fees.
It is the responsibility of parents or guardians to pay fees and as such pupils should not be penalised. In 2011, the Bulawayo High Court ruled that it is parents or guardians who undertake to pay all fees for their children when they bring them to school.
The school authorities should therefore take legal action against parents in the event of them failing to pay the fees. Schools fees payment obligation is therefore a contract between a parent or guardian and the school concerned and not the child.
The High Court made it clear that it is improper to use children as pawns to enforce payment by either turning them away or withholding their examination results.
Recently, Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training Minister Tinoda Machakaire had to take back to school about 30 pupils that had been sent home for non-payment of fees by a school in Marondera, Mashonaland East Province.
He then made an undertaking to pay the outstanding fees for all the affected pupils.
Minister Machakaire reminded the school authorities that it is the obligation of parents to pay the fees and therefore schools should not send pupils home for non-payment of fees.
A boarding school on the outskirts of Bulawayo also sent pupils home for non-payment of fees recently.
The boarding school authorities ferried the pupils by bus to Bulawayo and advised parents that their children could only be accepted back after clearing all the fees arrears.
This is confirmation that some school authorities remain defiant to the Government’s directive that pupils should not be sent home for non-payment of fees.
Last week Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi who is also Leader of
Government Business in Parliament, reiterated Government’s position regarding payment of fees.
He said school authorities should take legal action against defaulting parents and can even engage debt collectors.
Minister Ziyambi said pupils should not be penalised for their parents’ failure to pay fees. Admitted, schools cannot function on goodwill hence the need for parents and guardians to meet their obligation of paying schools fees.
Schools therefore face a brutal balancing act of ensuring they collect the fees while at the same time not disrupting the pupils’ learning.
We totally support the position that parents or guardians should pay fees and levies on or before schools open each term but in the event of parents failing to meet this obligation, their children should not be penalised.
We therefore want to urge parents to prioritise the payment of fees to avoid costly legal action.
School authorities on their part should not disrupt pupils’ learning by sending them home for non-payment of fees.
