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The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, and that of Labour and Social Services among other ministries, have received support from such organisations as Unicef and Save The Children to capacitate schools in the provision of learning and teaching materials such as textbooks and generally to create a conducive environment in tandem with the vision of these partners which aims to secure and maintain child-friendly schools.
The Government must be lauded for its fervent policy on the promotion of early childhood education, to all children at primary schools. The Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) is a Government initiative aimed at assisting underprivileged and vulnerable children at primary and secondary schools to access education.
To reciprocate the Government efforts, parents have the responsibility to pay some fees and levies for their children. These levies are approved by Government before they can be implemented in order to protect overburdened parents from arbitrary increase of fees and levies by some profit-seeking schools.
It is a compulsory statutory requirement that all levies and fees be approved by the ministry before parents and guardians can be ordered to pay. Any institution defying this statutory requirement attracts punitive consequences and no school may elect to defy the Government in this case.
However, a very bad tendence has developed in our education sector over the past decade — most parents find no joy with the high entrance examination fees that they must pay to secure Form One places for their children.
Entrance examinations are most common with mission, private boarding, day schools and every applicant wishing to secure a place for Form One is subjected to an entrance test which is administratively regarded as an impartial yardstick for screening out those who do not meet the standards. The common position is that Grade Seven children aspiring to secure Form One places get subjected to English and Mathematics entrance tests which are carefully constructed to achieve optimum performance by the applicants. When the testing and subsequent screening has been done, successful applicants secure places and those who fail to make it seek places elsewhere.
Of late, there has been indignation over some secondary boarding schools that have apparently turned entrance tests into fund-raising ventures. Most parents query why the schools invite high numbers of applicants yet being aware of the limited vacancies on offer. Parents of children who subsequently do not get the few places feel the exams are naked gimmicks aimed at siphoning money from them under the guise of conducting a credible entrance examination.
“As a parent I think these schools are fleecing us. Why do they invite all these big numbers when they only have a few places?” fumed Mr Kudakwashe Murisa who recently travelled all the way from Bulawayo to look for a place from one of the affluent boarding schools situated near Gweru.
Mr Murisa, like most parents said the high fees charged by some schools for entrance tests are irrational.
Recently parents expressed outrage at Waddilove Boarding School where 800 children wrote an entrance test for only 90 places available for Form One.
Parents revealed that the schools demanded between $20 and $40 in entrance examination fees. The fees are not refundable.
As though this is not enough injustice to already over-taxed parents, the schools often demand pens, rulers, stationery food and tissue paper from the applicants. Parents and their children also board public transport or drive their cars to get to some of these schools which also demand self-addressed envelopes from the applicants.
The million dollar question asked by most parents is what the entrance fees are used for since they are made to pay for absolutely everything.
The Government must intervene and bring into line the schools that continue to fleece parents with impunity. But what surprises is that there is already a policy which appears to have failed to bring sanity. The policy aims at ensuring that mission and private boarding schools do not fleece parents and guardians through Form One entrance tests.
The policy on entrance tests directs that schools should not exceed three applicants for every vacant place at a school. This policy seeks to protect parents against schools that continue to invite many numbers of prospective applicants to compete for very limited places.
Dating back to colonial times, mission and private boarding schools have always been praised for producing good pass rates. However, of late due to administration ineptitude and other factors, most of these institutions have been losing their yester-year glamour.
Now it remains to be seen how the Government would effectively declare its policy that is already on paper and swiftly implement it to arrest the rabid fundraising that has turned most schools into lawless jungles where only the fittest survive.
Entrance tests fees must be approved and set by the Government and any school authority that defies this policy must be dealt with accordingly to save parents from further exploitation by these unscrupulous schools.
Online Reporter