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Munyaradzi Musiiwa and Elizabeth Tsuro Midlands Reporters
ABOUT 50 ordinary level students from Eagles College in Gweru may not sit for the November Zimsec examinations following the arrest of the college’s principal on allegations of embezzling their registration fees. Ministry of Education officials yesterday said the college could be operating illegally as they suspected it was not registered.

Midlands provincial police spokesperson Inspector Joel Goko confirmed the arrest of Sitivini Jonah Banda, 45, the principal, on allegations of fraud. “I can confirm that Banda, the Principal of Eagles College, has been arrested on allegations of fraud and investigations are still in progress. He’ll appear in court once he’s formally charged,” he said.

Midlands Provincial Education Director Agnes Gudo told The Chronicle the college was not on the non-informant list of private colleges which means it may be unregistered.

“I haven’t heard of Eagles College in Gweru which means the institution might be a bogus one and might not be registered,” said Gudo.

Disgruntled students at the college said the matter came to light when they received their Zimsec statement of entries and realised that some of the subjects they had paid for were not registered.

Furious parents stormed the college on Friday after they realised that some of the money they had paid to register subjects for their children, may have been misused.

They reported the matter to the police.

From the estimated 50 candidates, two managed to cause Banda’s arrest.

“On September 10, two students from the college who had been issued with receipts upon payment of fees went to ZDECO to collect their statements of entry and only to discover that some of the subjects they paid for weren’t appearing,” said a parent on condition of anonymity.

“My son had actually paid for eight subjects but the statement of entry was reflecting four subjects. It therefore means that the principal didn’t pay for the other four subjects.”

Another parent said his daughter did not receive her statement of entry indicating that she may not have been registered.

He said he had paid for six subjects and had a receipt to confirm the payment.

A Gweru resident, Benson Makoni, said his nephew was also affected.

“This bogus college principal should be severely dealt with because he is destroying the future of pupils whose parents are working extremely hard to send them to school,” said Makoni.

In March this year, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Sylvia Utete-Masango, said the ministry would soon clamp down on private schools and colleges that are operating without proper registration.

This was after teachers unions called on the government to act on bogus colleges that were mushrooming in residential areas across the country and operating illegally.

Last year the government shut down 200 private schools and colleges throughout the country following a crackdown on illegal institutions which were not complying with the country’s laws.

In 2012, a similar exercise was carried out and over 200 illegal colleges and private schools were closed for operating outside the requirements of the law.

Of the over 200 colleges closed in 2012, more than 100 were from Bulawayo and their closure caused panic among students as the exercise was carried out at a time when most students were writing their final examinations.

The fly-by-night colleges often employ unqualified teachers who often teach wrong syllabi to pupils.