Sundaymail Editor
TINS of corned beef, fish, baked beans and spaghetti were abandoned on the till as a young boarder wore a lean and hungry look after his mother had refused to pay for them.
His face, which had more than a fair share of pimples, resembled an unweeded garden as he held his uncombed head in a combination of dejection and embarrassment.
Such were the scenes in most supermarkets and stockists of uniforms and other school requirements, in readiness for the opening of the new school term last Monday.
Parents and guardians fought pitched battles to raise fees, which were largely demanded in foreign currency.
It was worse for parents raising the same child but living separately, the divorced.
As I commit pen to paper, gentle reader, I came across a woman who was crying bitterly. It was as if she would drown in her tears, after her ex-husband was nowhere to be found.
“That man is a real devil. I have been trying to call him but he is not reachable. His son needs money for school fees and he is not saying anything. I have been to his workplace repeatedly but have not been able to find him. I know it is over between the two of us, but why make the child suffer because of that?” the woman said in between sobs.
An elderly man who was nearby drew laughter and nods of approval from the people nearby after suggesting that the woman might have been ditched for wanting to send the child to a school the father deemed expensive.
“Women are a funny lot. They do most things to be seen by the next person as high achievers.
“I think the husband ran away after being made to pay fees at a school he cannot afford. Unofa usina kurwara nevakadzi ava. Mango chaidzo unotanha dzaunosvikira,” he said.
One woman, however, suggested that the couple needed to communicate effectively and openly for the good of the child.
“Whatever happens between parents affects the children. The parents need to sit down together and choose a good school for their child, one they can afford because forcing someone to pay what he cannot afford is not the correct thing to do and also running away is the height of cowardice. Adenha mangwiro otokunya,” she said.
Gentle reader, as learners meet for the third and final term of the year, they really need to focus on their studies and leave drugs, alcohol, rawness of character and sexual immorality.
It is better to do away with the pleasures of the world during the period of study so that they concentrate on their schoolwork to attain good grades than to enjoy themselves now but later suffer for the rest of their lives after failing in school.
Sending a child to school in the current economic climate has become expensive and parents need to be repaid with success and not pregnancies and alcoholism.
“Love needucation hazvifambirane, fambira chimwe chete sadriver weambulance, ukangodaro chete uchabudirira. Ndobata rushaya, musoro pakati pemakumbo, misodzi yoerera, ndotanga kuchema,” sang the late lyricist Paul Matavire in the smash hit ‘MaU, Ungraded’.
True to the song, learners stand to reap huge benefits from sincere and dedicated study.
What happened during the Covid-19 era, when schoolgirls appeared to be in an undeclared competition to get pregnant while boys turned into petty criminals and alcoholics, must not be repeated.
All jobs in the world today are open to people with good passes and there is no reason to shut ourselves out by electing to be failures.
Unlock your pathway to success with education.
Inotambika mughetto.
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Online Reporter