Sunday News
By Vusumuzi Dube
5 May 2013
The Government has warned schools wishing to increase their schools fees and levies saying all those that do not follow the necessary procedures will be dealt with accordingly.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart said school authorities could not unilaterally increase levies but there was a need for them to engage parents and 20 percent of the parents was mandatory quorum when intending to discuss any increment.
“We have been continuously communicating with all schools and they are fully aware of the procedures. For fees to be approved they should call a meeting with parents where 20 percent should attend and at least 75 percent of the said 20 percent must endorse the proposals.
“After this the school authorities are then mandated to communicate with the permanent secretary who will then approve the increment if the reasons stated are deemed satisfactory. But the school must prove beyond reasonable doubt that they adhere to all the set measures for us to approve,†said Minister Coltart.
He said it was an offense for school heads to hike school fees and levies without consulting parents, saying parents could approach the provincial or district education offices if their representative schools did this.
Meanwhile, Minister Coltart has reiterated that school authorities could turn away children for non-payment of tuition fees but said it was still illegal for them to be turned away because of levies.
He said parents must note that schools needed the school fees for their day-to-day functioning thus the need for authorities to use whatever means possible to have students chased away for non-payment of these fees.
“People must differentiate between schools fees and levies, fees are pegged by Government and they range between $5 and $15 dollars, these are the charges which schools have the right to chase away students for, besides these figures are just too minimal.â€
“It is really unfair to expect school authorities not to chase away students for this minimal figure, the problem is that people tend not to differentiate between school fees and levies,†said the minister.
He said that is was unfortunate that some school authorities took advantage of this directive to chase away pupils for levies and other incentives.
“Levies and incentives are the only charges where schools can’t excuse students from attending lessons, however we have a situation where some authorities take advantage of this directive to chase away the school children for both levies and fees,†said Minister Coltart.
In another development, the minister said he was satisfied with the progress made in the education sector but said there were problems that needed to be taken care of in order for the sector to be effectively revived.
“I am pleased with the fact that the sector has stabilised considering where we are coming from but I must emphasise that we are still in a state of crisis and honestly we are still a long way off to say the sector has been effectively revived,†he said.