School bars pupils from taking mid-term exams over school fees

THE academic of some pupils at Pumula High School in Bulawayo is in jeopardy after they were barred from sitting for mid-term examinations over non- payment of school fees.

The incident took place last week where the pupils who had failed to pay the fees, were reportedly being detained in the school premises while their colleagues were writing the examinations and would be released to go home later in the day with the rest of the pupils.

The development has drawn the fury of parents of the affected pupils who were accusing the school authorities, especially the headmistress, a Miss Ncube, of trying to destroy the future of their children.

In an interview with the Sunday News last week, one of the parents, Mr Joel Bango Dube, said what was happening at Pumula High School was inhuman.

"I have a Form Five student who was supposed to write the mid-term exams last week but was barred from exams for non-payment of school fees. I failed to pay the US$72 school fees and I am worried about the future of my child now," said a dejected Mr Dube.

Mr Dube said the headmistress of the school was non-committal when they tried to engage her over the matter to allow the children to write the examinations.

"We had a meeting where we tried to talk to the headmistress over the matter but she was arrogant and she said: ‘this is my school and I do what I want'," said Mr Dube.

He added that what pained them was that the school was also sending debt collectors to their homes to collect outstanding money yet their children were not allowed to write examinations.

Councillor Ephraim Ncube confirmed the incident and said what was happening at Pumula was disheartening.

"As a councillor I am very touched by what is happening at the school where pupils are being barred from writing their exams. We tried to negotiate with the school headmistress to allow the pupils to write the exams and then the school would withhold the results until they paid the full school fees but they refused," said the councillor for ward 17.

The school headmistress, Miss Ncube, referred all the questions to the provincial education director, Mr Dan Moyo.

Mr Moyo said he was not aware of the incident and would be in position to comment when he got the full details of what transpired.

"I can't comment for now because I have not heard about that incident and I need to know the circumstances of that incident first," said Mr Moyo briefly on Friday.

Government is on record as saying schools should not send pupils away over fees but should engage parents who they have a contract with.