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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
SOME Bulawayo councillors are against the handing over of council schools to School Development Committees (SDCs) amid fears that education standards would go down.

The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has resolved to hand over its 30 schools to parents in a bid to “cut costs”.

The local authority wants to hand over 29 primary and one secondary school to their respective school development committees (SDCs).

The committees will have the autonomy to collect fees and levies, make crucial decisions that include employing and paying their respective staff members.

Some councillors are opposed to the idea.

They said previously council had handed community halls to communities in which they are located and they were run down, hence surrendering schools would be disastrous.

According to a council report, Ward 6 councillor Thabitha Ngwenya said most residents were against handing schools to the community. Schools would rather be handed over to churches as such schools were better run, the councillor said.

“Councillor Lot Siziba observed that council had handed over halls to the communities and as a result infrastructure had deteriorated.

“It would not be prudent to handover schools to the communities as they did not have capacity to administer such services,” reads the report.

Ward 12 councillor Lillian Mlilo sought clarification on the proposal saying most residents had very little information regarding the handover of schools to SDCs.

The Town clerk Mr Christopher Dube advised that handing over schools to communities was appropriate.

“Other Local Authorities have done it and this is yielding positive results. This allows everyone to participate and school fees are paid on time. Council will continue to supervise school activities as well as SD Committees.

“Consultations are being made with relevant Ministries so that this issue can be finalised,” Mr Dube is reported as saying.

—@AuxiliaK.