Matabeleland North and South Provinces Disadvantaged in STEM Registration

It is with great concern that we note that the system of STEM registration which has been set by the government will unduly disadvantage students from Matabeleland and limit their chances of enrolling in this noble initiative.

According to the information posted in the STEM website (stemstudents.co.zw) students from other 7 provinces of Harare, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, Manicaland, Midlands and Masvingo can register in the offices located within their provinces.
However, for Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo students they register in the offices located in Bulawayo. This will disadvantage students from Matabeleland North and South who will be required to travel long distances to Bulawayo and pay more for transport and accommodation in Bulawayo considering that not all of them have accommodation and or relatives in Bulawayo.

We call on the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education to allocate registration offices within the Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces considering that already there is enough human and technical infrastructure in those provinces to administer such needs.

Setting registration within these provinces will also improve access to the right to education for the Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South students who have for the past years been performing badly in Maths and Science subjects.