News / Education
Parents face legal action over unpaid school fees
24 Nov 2014 at 04:07hrs | Views
PARENTS and guardians of children attending school in Harare risk facing legal action if they fail to pay outstanding fees totalling $2,7 million by the end of this month, an official has said.
The Northern Central District School Development Association - Harare Province chairman Washington Mehlomakulu said they have noted with concern that some parents were abusing Education minister Lazarus Dokora's directive that schools should not send home children who have not paid their fees.
"The directive does not release parents from their contractual obligation to pay their child's fees. Fees paid by parents go towards the maintenance and expansion of our schools infrastructure and support the attainment of the objectives of Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation," he said.
"If you have not paid your child's school fees, then be advised that if such outstanding fees are not received by end of November 2014, we will be commencing legal action against all defaulting parents."
Mehlomakulu said the northern district was the affluent part of the province and if it was facing these challenges, the situation could be worse in other parts of the country.
"Some schools are owed $480 000, some $230 000 which is significant, considering the amount of work that can be done with that money. Schools need to rehabilitate their infrastructure and issues of water and sewer," he said.
Mehlomakulu said some of the infrastructure at some schools was over 100 years old and needed to be rehabilitated using school fees.
Parents and guardians were facing economic challenges with many parents out of work as companies have been retrenching since the beginning of the year.
The structure of the economy has moved more from the formal to the informal sector which is rather unstable.
The job market has failed to absorb the majority of graduates churned out every year from the country's universities and colleges each year.
Schools in the Northern Central District include Avondale Primary School, Mt Pleasant High School, Groombridge Primary School, Alexandria Park Primary School, Vainona Primary School, Hatcliffe High School, St Giles Special School, Harare
Central Prison Primary School, Blackiston Primary School, Vainona High School, St Cathrine Special School and Roosevelt Girls High School.
The Northern Central District School Development Association - Harare Province chairman Washington Mehlomakulu said they have noted with concern that some parents were abusing Education minister Lazarus Dokora's directive that schools should not send home children who have not paid their fees.
"The directive does not release parents from their contractual obligation to pay their child's fees. Fees paid by parents go towards the maintenance and expansion of our schools infrastructure and support the attainment of the objectives of Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation," he said.
"If you have not paid your child's school fees, then be advised that if such outstanding fees are not received by end of November 2014, we will be commencing legal action against all defaulting parents."
Mehlomakulu said the northern district was the affluent part of the province and if it was facing these challenges, the situation could be worse in other parts of the country.
"Some schools are owed $480 000, some $230 000 which is significant, considering the amount of work that can be done with that money. Schools need to rehabilitate their infrastructure and issues of water and sewer," he said.
Mehlomakulu said some of the infrastructure at some schools was over 100 years old and needed to be rehabilitated using school fees.
Parents and guardians were facing economic challenges with many parents out of work as companies have been retrenching since the beginning of the year.
The structure of the economy has moved more from the formal to the informal sector which is rather unstable.
The job market has failed to absorb the majority of graduates churned out every year from the country's universities and colleges each year.
Schools in the Northern Central District include Avondale Primary School, Mt Pleasant High School, Groombridge Primary School, Alexandria Park Primary School, Vainona Primary School, Hatcliffe High School, St Giles Special School, Harare
Central Prison Primary School, Blackiston Primary School, Vainona High School, St Cathrine Special School and Roosevelt Girls High School.
Source - NewsDay
