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Government has urged school authorities to come up with affordable school fees and levies as they review the fees for the third  term which opens on 10 September. Primary and Secondary Education Minister Professor Paul Mavima said school authorities should be cognisant of the prevailing economic hardships facing parents and guardians. 

Prof Mavima who, however, said it was not feasible to stop schools from increasing fees, said it was important for authorities to ensure the fees remain affordable to the majority of parents. He said parents were already struggling to pay the existing fees as evidenced by the increasing number of defaulters. 

He said at some schools, about 50 percent of parents were in arrears and the situation was likely to be worse when fees are increased for the third school term. Minister Mavima implored the parents to sacrifice towards the education of their children, saying schools needed adequate resources to properly function.  

It is a fact that most parents will not be able to pay the increased fees given the fact that most of them have been struggling to pay the existing levels of fees. An estimated 5,5 million people are food insecure which means priority for most families will be raising money for food. 

It is these same families that are food insecure that are expected to pay increased school fees. Government has said an estimated 2,2 million people living in urban areas across the country are food insecure due to the drought experienced last farming season and therefore need food aid.  

What is clear is that both rural and urban parents will not be able to pay increased fees hence the need for school authorities to be sensitive to the plight of parents and guardians when reviewing the school fees. We totally agree with Minister Mavima that fees increases cannot be avoided if schools are to remain open but as already stated, the level of fees should remain affordable to the majority of parents. 

School authorities should not send pupils home for non-payment of fees as doing so is an infringement on the children’s right to education. In 2011, the Bulawayo High Court ruled that it is parents or guardians who undertake to pay all fees for their children when they bring them to school. 

The school authorities should therefore take legal action against parents in the event of them failing to pay the fees. School fees payment obligation is therefore a contract between a parent or guardian and the school concerned and not the pupil. 

The High Court made it clear that it is improper to use pupils as pawns to enforce payment by either turning them away or withholding examination results. What we witnessed in the past was schools defying the High Court ruling and we urge Government to punish such errant school authorities. 

We want at the same time to appeal to parents to strive to raise school fees so that the quality of education for their children is not compromised. Parents with children at boarding schools cannot afford to default in paying fees because children need to be fed.