Herald
28 February 2011
GOVERNMENT prescribed school fees of US$10 per term for primary schools is US$63 less than the cost of educating a pupil, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said there was need to support the education sector to ensure that the high standards that were set since independence were maintained.
“It costs US$73 per term to educate a primary school pupil but we are charging US$10 in urban areas while in rural areas it is free and this means there is need for a Government subsidy of US$63,” he said.
Minister Coltart said this in Parliament on Wednesday during a question and answer session.
Mberengwa East MP, Cde Makhosini Hlongwane (Zanu-PF), had asked the minister what the Government was doing to avert school dropouts particularly in rural areas owing to high school fees.
Minister Coltart said there was need to continue to finance education.
“The inclusive government has tried to allocate money to the education sector but in real terms it has not been sufficient. We have a higher number of parents who cannot afford and we have insufficient funding and these forces are converging,” said Minister Coltart.
He said the only option that Government had was the use of BEAM, a facility that enables disadvantaged pupils to attend school at Government’s expense.
Responding to another question, Minister Coltart said while the Government might not like the payment of teachers’ incentives, they had no option since it was the only way to ensure that tutors remained in class.