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One private school remains closed
The Herald
May 11, 2004

http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=31773&pubdate=2004-05-11

ALL but one of private schools closed by Government last week for allegedly increasing fees without approval reopened yesterday following the finalisation of fees by the Government at the end of last week.

Government last week stopped 45 private schools from opening for the second term after they increased fees by more than the stipulated 10 percent without its written authorisation.

This saw at least 30 000 pupils failing to attend lessons for the whole of last week.

Lessons had resumed at all affected schools with the exception of St George’s College, which remained shut with police manning the entrance as some issues were still outstanding.

The Secretary for Education, Sport and Culture, Dr Stephen Mahere, said the board running St George’s was still to bring its letter of acceptance.

The Government indicated last week that private schools would only be allowed to reopen after complying with the law.

The schools had all applied at the end of last term or early in the school holidays for increases.

Under the Education Act, the secretary for the ministry can accept the proposals or reject them and set his own fee.

In all cases this time, the secretary has set a fee, based on the third term of last year, and well below what was submitted for this term. In many cases it was less than half what was desired. Fees in many cases seem to be just under twice what was charged in the third term and in several cases the ministry seems to have rounded down the third term fee to the nearest hundred thousand dollars and then doubled that resulting figure.

After receiving the new fee, the schools were required to sign letters of acceptance before they could be allowed to reopen.

Hartmann House, which was granted a High Court order to reopen last week, also resumed lessons yesterday. The 17 schools in the Bulawayo area also won an uncontested court order on Friday to reopen, but were also cleared by the ministry.

There was some confusion, however, as some parents were not very sure whether Hartmann House had reopened.

Hartmann House, the preparatory school for St George’s College, was not on the list of schools to have reached an agreement with the ministry, which was published over the weekend and Dr Mahere indicated that the school was also still to submit its letter of acceptance. However, the school reopened because of the High Court order.

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