Opinion / Letters
Primary School extra lessons a cause for concern
03 Mar 2014 at 14:41hrs | Views
EDITOR
Allow me to air out my views on the issues of extra lessons which have now become a cause for concern at Kuwadzana 6 Primary School in Harare. As a concerned parent I thought it wise to air my views out on your widely read website so that the issue of uneven delivery of education at this school is rectified.
The teachers at this school are taking us for granted as their love for money has reached an alarming rate to the extent that they always think of how they can always get opportunity to get money from us. Sometimes they come up with civic days one after another costing a dollar per child every month as a way of sourcing money from parents.
For the past three years we held several meetings with the then Headmaster and now with the current Headmistress of this school where we complained as parents that our children are told to each bring a dollar every day for extra lessons and that the issue of civic days coming that way are so costly but nothing has been done to look onto this. Take for example a parent with four children attending at Kuwadzana 6 School and then forced to pay a dollar per child on a monthly basis and then a dollar per child for extra lessons carried out during learning sessions coupled with school fees for each child. Surly that parent would never recover from economic downturn that has engulfed the nation as the little he gets is consumed by the school.
The issue of a dollar for extra lessons per child every day happens even though we as parents are paying school fees of which some of the money goes to teachers` incentives but our children are always made to bring that dollar per child. We have been raising such issues on several meetings but our concerns went unanswered.
The then Headmaster and the current one who was then the Deputy Head during that time would just say that it was us parents who were to blame in giving our children money for extra lessons. Surprising no efforts has been done by school authorities to investigate such issues as to bring to book those involved in such deals. The current Head is also doing nothing to curb this robbery as she also adopted this move from her predecessor.
Surprisingly, my child who has been paying that dollar on a daily basis to her teacher since when she was in grade five (5), now grade seven(7) keeps on paying, saying that she was told by her teacher that failure to do that will mean she is not going to attend any lesson and get quality education. I also checked with the teacher of my child about payment of that money and her teacher also told me that she wants thirty dollars ($30, 00) every month from my child for her to get quality education. As such, I have been paying a dollar every day as to make sure that my child is not victimized and joining those who fail to pay as they end up doing general work during class lessons. The Headmistress knows about this but she feigns ignorance whenever parents raise it during meetings.
My fear now is that those children with parents who fail to raise that dollar per day are not getting the so called quality education. It is something disturbing to have a school head feigning ignorant to something which happens to her school every day and this shows that she is not serious with her work. This is day light robbery. While the issue of extra lessons is not bad but the way how they are done and conducted is wrong and to pay a dollar per day to a teacher who always gets his/per incentive and a salary every month is not proper. These teachers are taking us parents for granted and the Ministry of Primary and Higher Education must come to our rescue. Parents in Kuwadzana 6 are not prepared to take the law into their own hands as what happened in Kuwadzana 2 recently when teachers were beaten up by parents over such similar issues.
Some of them are now able to send their children to better schools and also buy residential stands yet the children whom they teach are failing to have two meals per day as the teachers fleece their parents out of their meager earnings they get from their employers. It is disheartening to get teachers boasting as proud owners of houses yet they cry foul to government saying they are earning peanuts. Teachers behave like they are the only civil servants who are not handsomely paid yet the whole of the civil service lot is getting little and they have accepted that. So one wonders why teachers become cry babies to that extent as if they are scared cows. Their love for money has killed the education system and those parents with no money are now left out in the educational development circles.
As such the Ministry of Primary and Higher Education should investigate such corrupt activities by these teachers at Kuwadzana 6 Primary School some surrounding schools they are able to unearth such corrupt activities so that they stop fleecing out our meager resources. We really like our children to get quality education as shown by us when paying school fees with some money going to teachers` incentives but not to be forced to pay extra money meant for the so called extra lessons which are carried out during learning sessions. The issue of a dollar per day from a child should be investigated and stopped. We have been suffering silently for so long, so I as a victim l need this letter to be published so that the Headmistress of Kuwadzana 6 and other schools doing that corrupt activities get to know that the country is watching them.
Concerned parent
John Mukumbo
Kuwadzana 6, Harare.
Allow me to air out my views on the issues of extra lessons which have now become a cause for concern at Kuwadzana 6 Primary School in Harare. As a concerned parent I thought it wise to air my views out on your widely read website so that the issue of uneven delivery of education at this school is rectified.
The teachers at this school are taking us for granted as their love for money has reached an alarming rate to the extent that they always think of how they can always get opportunity to get money from us. Sometimes they come up with civic days one after another costing a dollar per child every month as a way of sourcing money from parents.
For the past three years we held several meetings with the then Headmaster and now with the current Headmistress of this school where we complained as parents that our children are told to each bring a dollar every day for extra lessons and that the issue of civic days coming that way are so costly but nothing has been done to look onto this. Take for example a parent with four children attending at Kuwadzana 6 School and then forced to pay a dollar per child on a monthly basis and then a dollar per child for extra lessons carried out during learning sessions coupled with school fees for each child. Surly that parent would never recover from economic downturn that has engulfed the nation as the little he gets is consumed by the school.
The issue of a dollar for extra lessons per child every day happens even though we as parents are paying school fees of which some of the money goes to teachers` incentives but our children are always made to bring that dollar per child. We have been raising such issues on several meetings but our concerns went unanswered.
The then Headmaster and the current one who was then the Deputy Head during that time would just say that it was us parents who were to blame in giving our children money for extra lessons. Surprising no efforts has been done by school authorities to investigate such issues as to bring to book those involved in such deals. The current Head is also doing nothing to curb this robbery as she also adopted this move from her predecessor.
Surprisingly, my child who has been paying that dollar on a daily basis to her teacher since when she was in grade five (5), now grade seven(7) keeps on paying, saying that she was told by her teacher that failure to do that will mean she is not going to attend any lesson and get quality education. I also checked with the teacher of my child about payment of that money and her teacher also told me that she wants thirty dollars ($30, 00) every month from my child for her to get quality education. As such, I have been paying a dollar every day as to make sure that my child is not victimized and joining those who fail to pay as they end up doing general work during class lessons. The Headmistress knows about this but she feigns ignorance whenever parents raise it during meetings.
My fear now is that those children with parents who fail to raise that dollar per day are not getting the so called quality education. It is something disturbing to have a school head feigning ignorant to something which happens to her school every day and this shows that she is not serious with her work. This is day light robbery. While the issue of extra lessons is not bad but the way how they are done and conducted is wrong and to pay a dollar per day to a teacher who always gets his/per incentive and a salary every month is not proper. These teachers are taking us parents for granted and the Ministry of Primary and Higher Education must come to our rescue. Parents in Kuwadzana 6 are not prepared to take the law into their own hands as what happened in Kuwadzana 2 recently when teachers were beaten up by parents over such similar issues.
Some of them are now able to send their children to better schools and also buy residential stands yet the children whom they teach are failing to have two meals per day as the teachers fleece their parents out of their meager earnings they get from their employers. It is disheartening to get teachers boasting as proud owners of houses yet they cry foul to government saying they are earning peanuts. Teachers behave like they are the only civil servants who are not handsomely paid yet the whole of the civil service lot is getting little and they have accepted that. So one wonders why teachers become cry babies to that extent as if they are scared cows. Their love for money has killed the education system and those parents with no money are now left out in the educational development circles.
As such the Ministry of Primary and Higher Education should investigate such corrupt activities by these teachers at Kuwadzana 6 Primary School some surrounding schools they are able to unearth such corrupt activities so that they stop fleecing out our meager resources. We really like our children to get quality education as shown by us when paying school fees with some money going to teachers` incentives but not to be forced to pay extra money meant for the so called extra lessons which are carried out during learning sessions. The issue of a dollar per day from a child should be investigated and stopped. We have been suffering silently for so long, so I as a victim l need this letter to be published so that the Headmistress of Kuwadzana 6 and other schools doing that corrupt activities get to know that the country is watching them.
Concerned parent
John Mukumbo
Kuwadzana 6, Harare.
Source - John Mukumbo
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