Govt blasts teachers' college for profiting from entrance fees

Government has slammed Seke Teachers' College for making a killing from entrance fees when it invited thousands of prospective students for interviews to train as teachers.

The college invited nearly 5000 people when it only had 500 vacancies. Speaking at a workshop for college principals in Harare on Wednesday, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Deputy Minister Dr Godfrey Gandawa urged tertiary institutions to streamline their recruitment procedures.

"There was an outcry over exorbitant fees charged for interviews like in the case of Seke Teachers College and I even called the college's principal Mr Emphraim Mutubuki to confirm the reports. When you really look at it, the money charged per person is not that much but when you have a situation whereby you invite 10 000 people when you only require 300 that becomes a problem. The ratio is just too much and that is not acceptable," he said.

Dr Gandawa said interviews must not be used as a tool for fundraising but as a criteria for choosing best students.

"We are alleged to be fundraising using these interviews. Are we fundraising? And if we are, are we doing any good to the nation by such practices? We need to understand that those people that come for those interviews sometimes are very poor and incur several costs and we are not doing justice to them.

"Let us come up with a criteria whereby prospective students apply and then carry out a pre-selection process before inviting a few for interviews rather than having the college publish an open invitation to everyone," he said.

Mr Mutubuki dismissed the allegations saying they turned away part of the crowd.

"Even if we decide to take a few, some of the overzealous officers from the public service responsible for the monitoring and evaluation process will be confusing people and also proclaiming to the crowds that everyone has the right to carry out that interview even if our numbers will be enough. In essence they will be controlling the whole process of the interviews," said Mr Mutubuki.