Moffat Mungazi
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
IT now costs an arm and leg to send a child to school as parents and guardians, particularly those enrolling their children in Form One, ECD and Grade One, are being coerced into paying substantial amounts of money at both boarding and mega day schools across Manicaland.
A back-to-school survey conducted by The Manica Post last week revealed that parents and guardians of children enrolling in Form One this year are facing exorbitant costs.
Some boarding schools in the province are charging as much as US$2 000 per new learner, a trend that has spread to even mega day schools, once considered a more affordable option, which are now charging relatively high fees.
Parents and guardians enrolling their children at some of the mega day schools are forking out around US$500 per Form One learner this year. This move has been widely criticised as tantamount to commercialising education, which is a fundamental right that should not be infringed upon.
When education is expensive, it can have several negative consequences for poor individuals and communities as poor ones may end up unable to afford education, leading to lack of access to quality learning opportunities while exacerbating existing social and economic inequalities, as only wealthy individuals have greater access to resources and opportunities.
In addition to the exorbitant school fees, parents and guardians are typically expected to cover extra costs, including stationery and textbook expenses for their children.
For those enrolling in boarding schools, additional grocery items (tuck) are often required – which supplementary costs significantly add to the overall financial burden on parents and guardians.
Mission and elite Government schools in the province are charging hefty fees, compelling parents and guardians to purchase uniforms from them, ostensibly to justify the high costs.
Furthermore, some boarding schools have imposed an additional and unpopular fee, known as the mission fund, which goes directly to the Responsible Authority — mostly churches.
Some of the schools unilaterally changed Form One uniforms — opting to import them from China — in a desperate bid to force parents to buy from the institution.
Nearly all boarding schools in the province are charging a mission fund ranging between US$200 and US$980, which in some cases is equivalent to the tuition fees paid by parents, depending on the school.
Most mission schools in the province are run by Anglican, Roman Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist, United Methodist, Dutch Reformed Church and United Church of Christ churches.
Some former Group A schools run by Government have followed suit, charging a new entry fee, christened (gogogoi) ranging between US$50 and US$200.
The increases in school fees and supplementary costs are occurring despite a significant erosion of disposable income, further exacerbating the financial burden on parents and guardians.
The Manica Post also observed that parents and guardians were rushing to complete last-minute shopping for school essentials in various towns across Manicaland Province.
Long queues were seen in shops perceived to offer stationery, textbooks and uniforms at lower prices.
Acting Manicaland Provincial Education Director, Mr Richard Gabaza said all is set for the 2025 first term, with tremendous efforts being made to prepare schools for reopening next week. He said enrolment for Early Childhood Development (ECD) A is almost complete, while secondary schools have been enrolling Form One learners in earnest.
Boarding schools, he said have also reached their capacity, while teacher transfers were nearing completion, ensuring that educators will be in place for the new term.
Full story in www.mancapost,co,zw“Tremendous effort is being made towards making sure that all schools are ready for opening for the 2025 first term next week. We have enrolment of ECD A that started at the end of last year and coming into 2025. Nearly all schools are done with the enrolment process.
“Secondary schools have been enrolling Form Ones, a process which was done in earnest. Our boarding schools in the province have enrolled numbers that are commensurate with their respective facilities and capacity. As regards transfer and deployment of teachers, we are almost through, and we will ensure that all new teachers assume duty at their respective stations when schools open on Tuesday. We are certain that teachers, as schools open next week, they will be settled. We have completed the transfer of teachers and are just consolidating the data on who came from where and was deployed where,” said Mr Gabaza.
Mr Gabaza appeared unaware of the complaints regarding unaffordable school fees in the province, emphasizing that schools must charge approved fees as stated in Section 21 of the Education Act.
“As far as the ministry is concerned, schools must charge approved fees as espoused in Section 21 of our Education Act. The procedures are clear and known to the school heads, who are the accounting officers. We have not received any complaints about the unaffordable school fees being charged by any school because the procedures of pegging schools fees are all-inclusive.
“We have only heard unconfirmed reports, and as authorities, we may visit one or two schools to ascertain the authenticity of these yet unsubstantiated rumours. However, we will agree that rumours and formal complaints are two different things that are treated differently,” said Mr Gabaza.
