Farirai Machivenyika-Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT has challenged parents who enter into school fees payment arrangements to honour their financial commitments, saying schools are legally free to enforce these voluntary contracts through debt collectors and interest charges.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi clarified that the State will not interfere with agreements voluntarily established between parents and educational institutions, including private schools, provided that learners are not penalised or mathematically disadvantaged.
Responding to questions from legislators during the National Assembly question-and-answer session on Wednesday, Minister Ziyambi addressed the growing practice of schools engaging external debt collectors to recover outstanding tuition and levies. He argued that parents who willingly subscribe to specific payment conditions must fulfill them, as the state cannot retroactively disrupt private civil contracts.
“We have privately owned schools and our policy is that in whatever arrangement pertaining to tuition, fees and levies, learners should not be prejudiced and that is the policy across the board,” Minister Ziyambi said. “It does not matter whether it is a Government school, a private school or any other type of school. So, the arrangement for paying fees should not affect the learner. We have schools where parents willingly subscribe to certain conditions in terms of paying fees. The Government cannot interfere.”
He emphasized that parents who agree to specific payment deadlines, penalties, or statutory interest rates cannot expect government intervention when schools move to enforce those exact legal terms. Minister Ziyambi noted that guardians bear the primary responsibility of ensuring that their children’s education is funded punctually, rather than complaining when institutions employ legal avenues to recover debt.
“So, I think if we want to be truthful to ourselves, we need to educate each other that if you have your child, it is your responsibility to ensure that fees are paid on time rather than for us to complain about interest charges or being handed over to a debt collector,” he said.
However, the minister issued a strict caveat that schools must direct all recovery and enforcement efforts exclusively at the parents, leaving the learners’ classroom activities and progression unhindered. He reiterated that schools are encouraged to pursue defaulting guardians legally while simultaneously releasing public examination results and permitting students to attend classes.
“Do not punish the pupil, give the learner their results and let them proceed with their education uninterrupted, but go for the parent,” Minister Ziyambi added.
