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Refund parents, Chigwedere orders schools
The Herald (Zimbabwe)
August 30, 2005

http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=46405&pubdate=2005-08-30

PARENTS who paid backdated school fees for first and second terms should either get a refund or have the money credited to them in future terms, Education, Sport and Culture Minister Cde Aeneas Chigwedere said yesterday.

He said tuition fees for Government schools for 2005 were determined in the last week of June after parents had already paid the tuition for that term.

"All fees are for the present and future only and not for the past as well. Accordingly, the new tuition fees stipulated towards the end of June will start to apply on September 1 2005," he said.

Although school headmasters have been refusing to act on the matter, saying they had not received a circular from the ministry rescinding the earlier position, Cde Chigwedere said he had already instructed his Permanent Secretary, Dr Stephen Mahere to prepare the required circular.

"My secretary is working on the circular right now,’’ he said.

The new circular would effectively cancel the other circular that permitted schools to backdate the new school fees to January.

Cde Chigwedere indicated in Parliament last week that Government would take action against State school authorities who backdated the recently increased fees for Government schools to January this year.

He told Parliament on Wednesday last week that backdating school fees was not Government policy and that this would result in an unnecessary burden for parents.

"We cannot act until we know what is happening and it is possible that some headmasters have taken advantage of the fee increase to backdate them to January," he said.

He was responding to a question by Chitungwiza Member of Parliament Mr Fidelis Mhashu (MDC) during a question and answer session.

The opposition lawmaker wanted to know whether it was Government policy to backdate the fees that had been increased a thousand-fold from a few hundred dollars a term set several years ago.

Cde Chigwedere said the increase in the fees was justified as this would enable the schools to buy teaching and learning materials.

The minister said some schools were charging unrealistic fees that were as low as $225 per term and this had been raised to $200 000 while parents who were paying $500 per term would now be required to pay $500 000.

He urged parents to report to the relevant authorities those schools that were backdating the fees.

Some schools, especially those in Harare, have remained defiant saying that they had not received any communication from the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture regarding this decision.

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