Zimbabwe clarifies goats for school fees position

Government has clarified that the buzz around the goat payment as fees is a sign that most Zimbabweans failed to understand the context of the noble cause by the ministry which seeks to clear the parents debts to most schools since government adopted a stance that no school children should be chased away from school for failure to pay fees.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Lazarus Dokora was recently quoted in the media saying government is formulating a policy framework where parents can settle their children's fees by using goats as a form of payment triggering a serious backlash from the social media as people took turns to create jokes around the matter.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango however told ZBC News that the satire around the whole matter is a sign that people failed to understand the noble concept which could be the answer to schools being owed fees by parents.

"I must say people sometimes tend to laugh off at some serious issues without getting to understand the real meaning of the context behind the proposed policy. Look, a number of parents simply owe these schools and we are simply saying they can provide expertise and set off some of their debts. They can as well look around their environs by selling goats and cattle to set off such debts and it's no laughing matter as most schools are now incapacitated because of these debts," he said.

Since the government adopted the policy that no school children shall be sent away from school as a result of failure to pay school fees, a number of schools are now being owed thousands of dollars making their day-to-day operations very difficult.

On the progress on the new curriculum which initially faced some serious resistance from churches and some quarters of the society, Dr Utete-Masango says meetings and training of several stakeholders by her ministry and development partners have yielded some positive results in the first quarter of the implementation stage.

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has come up with a new curriculum that has seen children as young as four years being adopted in the mainstream education with students in primary education now expected to learn vocational training studies in a bid to identify one's talent whilst they are still young.