Learn-now-pay-later unsustainable

As Zimbabwe is highly respected for valuing education as a fundamental right for every child, the policy compelling schools to accept children without paying fees has left most institutions teetering on the brink of collapse.

While the Government did the honourable thing and came up with a noble idea to afford all children the right to education, most parents are now abusing the facility by deliberately defaulting payment.

Government should revisit the issue and try to come up with a mechanism that ensures parents do not hide behind the directive, and intentionally default.

The sweet voice from the Government has disarmed the once-powerful school authorities turning them into toothless bulldogs that just helplessly watch their institutions crumbling. With all due respect, something has to be done to strike a balance between the interests of every pupil and the viability of institutions before the country's education standards go to the dogs.

An economic analyst Mr Brains Muchemwa said the learn-now-pay-later system was not sustainable in the Zimbabwean economy. He said education was as basic as health and there is no basis for it to be treated differently from health or other basic rights that are paid for upfront.

"The basic human right of access to education is equally important as the right to health and right to basic accommodation.

"If in all other rights, basic as they are, people are paying upfront, what difference is it for education? When the central government does not have adequate fiscal space to meet even modest civil service salary increases, expecting schools therefore to operate on learn-now-pay-later schemes is taking socialist ambitions too far.

"Parents need to understand headmasters do not print money, (moreso for boarding schools), and indeed they should be responsible to ensure they work hard to afford their kids the right to education," said Mr Muchemwa.

Huge water and electricity bills are piling at most schools with some, for fear of sending children home to collect fees, resorting to desperate measures like conducting civvies days once every week to raise funds. Such measures although they appear to be minor contributions, are indirectly making life difficult for low-income earners who are forced to fork out at least US$3 weekly on top of the school fees and levies.

Some schools have embarked on agreeing with defaulting parents on payment plans, but the strategy has proved to be very ineffective considering parents still default on the dates that they undertake to pay. Taking parents to court over such issues can be an option, but considering the delays in our justice delivery system, it does not qualify to be the best solution to the problem.

Delaying tactics may be employed resulting in court cases dragging for more than a year. If parents lose court cases, they still have a right to challenge the decision at a higher court to an extent that the school will spend more on lawyers than what parents owe them.

A court claim for fees for a single term may be finalised after two years after the school has lost much in legal fees. Despite the court battle, the pupils would be at school expecting to get normal service including those who will be having huge fee arrears.

In March this year, David Livingstone Primary School introduced compulsory civvies days whereby pupils were obliged to pay fees ranging from US$2 to US$3 every Wednesday as a way of reducing the school's debts. At the time, the school owed Harare City Council US$15 000 and, it owed NSSA US$9 000.

The former Group A school's development committee chairman Mr Clever Musakaruka categorically stated that the school was broke and the fundraising was a temporary measure to save it from total collapse.

"The school is actually broke. We held those fundraising activities because the school had no money. We would have wanted to conduct those fundraising activities throughout the term, but we failed due to unnecessary pressure and complaints from parents," he said.

Further investigations revealed that Mabelreign Girls High in Harare that charges US$20 school fees, plus US$120 per term is one of the most affected schools operating with very high water and electricity bills.

Impeccable sources revealed that the girls' school owed Zesa and Harare City Council thousands of dollars while several pupils were being allowed to attend lessons with high school fees arrears. Some, according to sources, have not even a single cent for this year.

The Treasurer for Mabelreign Girls High's development committee Mr Partridge Sibanda said at least 30 percent of the pupils were not paying their fees and levies. He also said parents were taking advantage of the law that makes it an offence for authorities to expel children for non-payment of fees.

"About 70 percent are paying their fees and levies and, we normally have a default rate of 30 percent. That creates problems to the school and it leaves the school in serious financial problems, hampering development.

"The court process is unnecessarily long and expensive. The process only works for pupils who are still in school. When one finishes Form Four or Form Six without paying, it would be difficult to trace them for the debt. Some, especially when they fail, they do not pay. Those that live in rented houses may disappear as soon as they complete their studies and suing them would be difficult," said Mr Sibanda.

A High Court judgment by Justice Maphios Cheda early this year that declared it illegal to expel pupils over fees brought about a change in the operation of schools. Part of Justice Cheda's judgement delivered in January 2011 reads:

"When a parent or guardian secures a place for a child at a school or tertiary institution, a contract is entered between the said institution and the parent with regards to the payment of fees. The said contract can either be express or implied. Failure by the parent to pay the fees and levies results in the institution of legal proceedings against a minor who has no contract with the institution to pay fees. To do so is an abuse of authority on the part of the institution, which is an undue pressure to enforce payment of fees using pupils as pawns. This is therefore unlawful."

It made it difficult to differentiate the new education policy from the free education system of the 1980s. Gone are the days when schoolchildren would be sent back home to collect fees. These days, one can now afford to safely send his or her child to school without paying a cent and get away with it.

A school needs water, electricity, fuel, sporting facilities, salaries for staff, stationery, vehicles, toilet chemicals, laboratory equipment and chemicals among others, to operate.

Toilet cleaners among other workers are an integral part of any institution and they need to be paid from the levies that pupils pay.

If there are no mechanisms to ensure defaulters pay their debts, then the collapse of such institutions would be the only option.

While it is well accepted and understood that some parents are failing to raise the required fees, others are just deliberately abusing the facility.

Education, Sports and Culture Minister David Coltart and his deputy Lazarus Dokora are on record warning school authorities against sending children home for failure to pay fees. The ministry described the idea as a breach of the children's right to education.

Development committees and heads from various schools countrywide are crying foul over deliberate non-payment of fees by some parents who are taking advantage of the Government's stance.

Most schools are operating with huge debts and are finding it difficult to run the institutions without money.