Online Reporter
Conrad Mupesa
Mashonaland West Bureau
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) on Monday arrested 14 Mhondoro villagers in Chegutu district after they allegedly dug up a road that leads to St Mark’s High School in a bid to block the enrolment of outsider students.
They were accusing the school authorities of admitting learners from outside the area at the expense of their children.
They also insisted that the St. Mark’s School boarding facility was supposed to prioritise local learners over those from outside the district.
The villagers were charged and fined for participating in an unsanctioned demonstration. The school is owned and run by the Harare Anglican Diocese.
Mashonaland West acting police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Belinda Nyazira confirmed the arrests.
“Yes, we have 14 people who were arrested in connection with in relation to said incident,” said Nyazira.
The school is accused of increasingly excluding local children by hiking fees beyond the reach of villagers and raising the entry cut-off points.
“The school is now pegging fees beyond the reach of many of us to shut out our children from the school we sweated to build. We played a part in the school’s development up to where it is now,” said one villager.
The school pegged fees for Form One enrolment at US$450, a figure which the community allegedly found beyond the reach of many villagers.
Another villager, Charles Mazano, accused the school of deliberately increasing cut-off points to deny local children admission.
“They deliberately raise the cut-off units to frustrate our children and take in outsiders prioritising money ahead of our children’s future,” he said.
However, some parents castigated fellow villagers for their “backward” thinking, arguing they ought to engage the school civilly.
“The community once did the same around 2016, and the Reverend, who was around, said that the school was forced to enrol learners who were not ready for secondary school. Some of them only knew how to write their names, and that was it,” a fellow villager said in one of the local WhatsApp groups calling for the school to take charge of the enrollment process.
“The issue is parents cannot afford the required fees, because on enrollment, there is no issue. The school even enrolled two of those students who had higher units,” said a teacher who requested anonymity.
The councillor for the area, Tawanda Sibanda, said attempts have been made in the past to resolve the matter through dialogue, but the school authorities failed to respond.
“The villagers wrote a letter which they gave to me, and I also wrote my own and delivered them to the school authorities last year in August, but up to now there has been no response,” said Cllr Sibanda.
St Mark’s Anglican School Rector Willard Maneswa and Harare Anglican Diocese education secretary Lazarus Nyatsanza could not be contacted for comment.
