Sikhumbuzo Moyo [email protected]
GOVERNMENT has urged schools to pursue parents who default on school fees through debt collectors, warning that institutions which withhold learners’ examination results over unpaid fees will face action.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is also Leader of Government Business in Parliament, said this during a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
He was responding to a question from Cowdray Park legislator Cde Arthur Mujeyi, who raised concern over schools engaging debt collectors to recover outstanding fees.
Cde Mujeyi said some learners had accumulated school fees arrears stretching from Early Childhood Development (ECD) to Grade Seven, raising concerns over whether they would be allowed to access their examination results.
“Now we have children who, from ECD, have not paid school fees up to Grade Seven and have already sat for the examinations. What is the Government’s position when it comes to collecting the results since no school fees was paid from Grade One up to Grade Seven?” asked Cde Mujeyi.
In response, Minister Ziyambi said Government policy was that efforts to recover outstanding fees should not prejudice learners or disrupt their education.
He said schools were encouraged to pursue parents and guardians responsible for settling the fees rather than penalising children.
“So, what you have been asking about interest rates, that is the thing, and handing you over to debt collectors, that is what the Government encourages.
“Do not punish the pupil, give the learner their results and let them proceed with their education uninterrupted, but go for the parent. Send a debt collector who will say hallelujah. If the school withholds results, we go for the school,” said Minister Ziyambi.
