Chronicle Editor
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education said it is ready to act on defiant school heads who continue to send away learners for non-payment of tuition fees saying those that deliberately flout laid down policies will be inviting the fury of authorities.
The comments come in the wake of reports that some schools have been barring learners from attending classes over unpaid fees while some insisted that parents should buy uniforms from the school.
In an interview, the Provincial Education Director for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Mr Bernard Mazambane, said it was unfortunate that there were school heads who have delegated themselves authority that goes beyond their terms of reference.
“I was very furious about that when we had our National Association of Primary Heads (NAPH) meeting about two days ago. These are unscrupulous school heads, otherwise the regulation is clear and straightforward, but in every group of people, you will find someone with mischief. But we are sending the same message to their District Schools Inspectors that they must tell their school heads that it is not the child who is paying school fees but the parent,” stressed Mr Mazambane.
He, however, said it was important for parents and guardians to also play their part in school fees payment.
“On the payment of fees, why can’t parents also pay so that children are not affected, we have to look at two sides of the coin,” he said.
Last week the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education announced that parents were obligated to pay approved school fees and levies as required by the school for them to meet their operational costs and overheads. They also highlighted that charging fees exclusively in foreign currency is illegal.
“In accordance with the Secretary’s Circular No. 10 of 2002, the Government policy position is that school fees must be paid in Zimbabwean dollars. No school, therefore, must force any parent to pay fees or levies exclusively in foreign currency since parents are free to pay in a currency of their choice as Zimbabwe operates under a multi-currency regime. If fees are pegged in foreign currency for value preservation, parents must pay school fees in local currency at the prevailing interbank rate of the day the transaction is made,” said the Ministry in a statement.
Turning to the issue of water cuts in schools following the incessant water-shedding programme by the Bulawayo City Council, Mr Mazambane said schools were in a crisis considering that there were areas where cholera was detected last year.
“It is a serious crisis we have, we want to meet as the National Association of Primary Heads and National Association of Secondary Heads so that we strategise and ensure there are ways of getting water using bowsers even trying to involve the Bulawayo City Council and other stakeholders so that schools have enough water,” said Mr Mazambane.
The PED appealed to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s partners to assist in the rehabilitation of boreholes around schools.
“We have one partner, the Latter Day Saints, very soon they will be working in the Cowdray Park area to try and improve the water situation. However, we are also having challenges with dry holes. In the Luveve area, we had two or three boreholes and all of them were dry holes. But we have to make an effort to ensure schools have means of getting water from a clean source.
“We are going to get school reports following the meetings they held so that we find whoever that can assist so that we have water in these schools,” he said.
Mr Mazambane said with the water shortages going on in the city, toilets have to be closed when there is no water in schools. He said as a province they were coming up with their programme of action for the current year with the focus being on improving the 19 peri-urban schools around Bulawayo.
“Emphasis is on peri-urban schools where we have mediocre infrastructure, we are making those a priority for 2024, even our partners that are coming in, we are driving them towards our 19 peri-urban schools. Some of the schools do not even have sites, they are still using old farm structures like Tsetse Primary School, for example, it is still using old farm structures,” he said.–@NyembeziMu
Bongani Ndlovu