It’s that time of the year again

THIS week, I received relentless calls from relatives and acquaintances seeking assistance to pay third term school fees for their children, with promises to pay back at a later date.

Old lovers were also part of the mix, accusing me of playing hard to get as an entry point, but still asking for cash.

Some were even offering their bedraggled vehicles as surety.

“You are the only person who can assist me here. All the deals I thought would yield something have crumbled yet the school opening date is getting closer and closer. Ingonditambawo yakanunira, tozoona pamberi apo,” one of my friends said.

“I was overjoyed when I welcomed these children into the world, but I now have to pay an arm and a leg to ensure they have eaten, are clothed and have gone to school. What is worse is that I am struggling to raise fees this time around.

“I am just wondering whether or not you can spare me a bit of cash so that I can pay the school fees and you can hold my car until I make good on the promise. Please, help me, ndapota zvangu,” another friend of mine pleaded.

The last of them all wrote an SMS: “I need balance of payment support on fees. True friends help in times like these.”

I am not sure if I am the only person inundated with such requests. This is notwithstanding the fact that the school calendar was released at the beginning of the year and by now, people should have come up with elaborate and concrete payment plans.

However, as I commit pen to paper, gentle reader, general managers, finance managers, chief executives and anyone with influence to provide cash are in trouble with people seeking financial assistance.

Well, over half the phone calls they are receiving are from people who are desperate to wring cash out of them. Headmasters, too, are facing an almost similar situation, with some parents and guardians of learners at the institutions they lead offering bribes so that they do not demand fees on the opening day.

“Headmaster, please, do not send my son away from school on opening day. You know, that is extremely embarrassing. I will come and pay at the end of the month and I can buy you a crate of beer so that we oil up this deal,” you hear some people saying over their phones.

Some school heads are even being offered sex and other unprintable favours. It is now not unusual to get a call from a desperate brother and/or friend seeking assistance to send their brood to school.

Loan sharks of all sorts have also come on stream, knowing full well that they will sooner or later be demanding more than a pound of flesh. What makes the situation more delicate is that we are getting into the third term, when learners will be tested and awarded certificates that will define their future for many years through public examinations.

“Education is what remains when all that has been learnt has been forgotten,” my old teacher’s guide reads.

True to the statement, educationists have a rewards system where learners who forget less of what they learnt are ranked higher than those who forget almost all they were taught.

This is probably why, at the beginning of every examination, all candidates are awarded 100 percent and afforded the chance to throw away the marks they do not deserve through the way they answer questions and follow instructions.

All these tests are done in the third term of the year, which begins tomorrow. Children have to work hard in school so that they excel, as their parents provide fees and other learning materials.

Inotambika mughetto.

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