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Illegal harrassment of private schools' heads and boards in Zimbabwe
Association of Trust Schools
February 11, 2005

In December 2003/January 2004 official indicators revealed that the inflation rate in Zimbabwe had reached the unprecedented level of 600% p.a.

In response to this, and after applying to the Ministry of Education in terms of the Education Act - usually without response - to increase fees in order to remain solvent and effective, most Private Schools were compelled to increase their fees at the beginning of the first term, and subsequently at the beginning of the second term.

In the meantime the Permanent Secretary for Education had issued a directive specifying what fee each school was permitted to charge for the whole year. The fee specified was considerably lower than financial viability advised, and specifying a fee in this circumstance went beyond the powers of the Permanent Secretary as provided for in the Education Act.

Attempts to seek dialogue with the Ministry were largely spurned; to survive, Private Schools were compelled to disregard the Permanent Secretary's illegal fee specification.

The Zanu PF Minister of Education, Aeneas Chigwedere, responded by ordering the police to blockade school gates at the beginning of the second term to prevent pupils from entering and to arrest certain Heads of Schools and Board Members, and to charge them with illegally raising fees. (At the same time he suspended about 80 Heads of Government and Church schools who, with parental approval, felt it necessary to raise their school levies.)

Some Private Schools were only able to reopen by successfully seeking a Court Order to permit them to do so: the Education Act does not empower the Minister of Education to act in the way he did.

Continuing illegal interference and harassment has forced schools, both individually and collectively, and also the Association which represents them, the A.T.S., to seek relief through the Courts. The following press release was issued on 4 February, 2005.

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