Parents feel forex fees heat, school dates unchanged

PARENTS are feeling the heat as more schools are demanding payment of fees in forex ahead of schools opening for the third term on Monday next week.

Some schools are rejecting payment in local currency insisting on full fees being paid in forex while others want part of the fees paid in forex and the remainder in local currency.

Parents and guardians have appealed to Government to intervene so that school authorities allow them to pay the fees in the currency of their choice moreso when the Zimbabwean dollar is appreciating in value.

In a letter to parents and guardians, SOS Children’s Village Primary School said while its fees have not been increased this term, it was proposing that the bulk of the fees be paid in forex as most service providers were demanding payment in forex.

“The Term Three fees remain at U$430. However, due to the prevailing economic situation, this has seen most service providers and suppliers not accepting payments in ZWL. The majority of tear-offs received from parents/guardians favoured option C, which proposed tuition at US$230 in foreign currency and US$20 payable in ZWL, levy US$150 in foreign currency and US$30 payable in ZWL,” reads the letter.

The school said the portion of the fees and levies paid in local currency will be calculated using the prevailing willing buyer/willing seller exchange rate on the day of payment.

The Seventh-day Adventist-run Fairview Primary School has pegged its fees at US$470 and the bulk of it should be paid in forex. Pupils at St Columba’s High School in Makokoba suburb will pay US$360 this term and again a portion should be paid in forex.

Schools such as Gloag Secondary School in Matabeleland North province are however rejecting payment in local currency insisting on full payment in forex. Parents with children at the boarding secondary school said they were taken by surprise yesterday when the school authorities rejected payment in local currency yet last term they paid a portion of the fees in local currency. They said the school did not bother to communicate its new position regarding the payment of fees hence many of them were caught off guard.

“After payment of the portion of the fees at the bank like we did last term, I was taken aback when workers at the school’s offices in town told me that they no longer accept payment of fees in local currency,” said one of the parents who refused to be named.

She said the only relief was that the school has allowed pupils who have paid a portion of the fees in forex at the bank to board the school bus and has given them up to the end of this month to pay the blalance.

The deputy director of communication and advocacy in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Patrick Zumbo said it was not proper for schools to demand full payment of fees in forex.

“We don’t expect school heads to to demand full payment of fees in forex. Zimbabwean dollar is a legal tender and as such parents/guardians should be be allowed to pay the fees in the currency of their choice,” he said.

However, the National Association of Secondary Schools Heads (NASH) president and Gwanda High School head Mr Authur Maphosa said schools were not operating in a vacuum and factors in the macro-economic environment are forcing them to demand partial payment of fees in forex.

“The exchange rate is changing and it is unpredictable and the position of most schools is that they are not demanding full fees in US dollar,” said Mr Maphosa.

He said the challenge facing schools is that some suppliers and service providers were demanding paymenty in forex.

Mr Maphosa said schools were also operating vehicles and have to buy fuel which is sold in forex hence the decision to have a portion of the fees and levies paid in forex.

He however said it was not proper for schools to demand full payment of fees and levies in forex given that many workers are earning local currency.

Meanwhile, Government has dismissed speculation that the opening of schools which is Monday next week could be deferred.

“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education wishes to confirm that there is no deviation from the original school calendar. The general public is hereby informed that as announced before, the third term begins on 4 September 2023 and ends on 1 December 2023,” said the ministry in a statement.

The ministry has urged members of the public to contact their district and provincial education offices in relation to any queries.

Mr Zumbo said the third term was critical as pupils will be sitting for their public examinations hence the need to avoid any disruptions.

-@nqotshili