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Riot
police threaten Bulawayo poly students
Students Solidarity Trust
February 22, 2006
Students at
the Bulawayo Polytechnic, who engaged in massive demonstrations
last week against the new exorbitant fees regime announced by the
government this month, have been forced to go back to the lecture
rooms. The students had been on an indefinite class boycott since
last week.
The College
administration is citing a sinister law which students at the College
have professed ignorance of – which states that the college has
a right to indefinitely close the college if students boycott classes
for 5 consecutive days.
There is a heavy
presence of riot police at the campus, who are interfering in the
normal operations of the College. The Chief CID Officer in Bulawayo
threatened students to go back to school or face unspecified action
if they fail to comply with the order.
Interestingly
however, is the fact that the majority of the students have not
paid school fees.
The students
have vowed to resume the boycotts next week on Monday.
The Students
Solidarity Trust unreservedly condemns the interference of state
security agents in the operations of Colleges. It is a threat to
academic freedom and autonomy of institutions and serves to show
that our country is a police state.
Autonomy fosters
academic freedom. And the search for autonomy requires both an autonomous
studying environment, free from interference by the police, and
independent semantic tools that avoid both dictatorial values masquerading
as universal truths and anthropological sentimentalism that glorifies
mediocrity and institutions sliding into ruin.
Meanwhile, Masvingo
Teachers College students are failing to attend school because of
the astronomic fee increases. The majority of students are failing
to raise the amount required by the administration, clearly illustrating
that education in Zimbabwe is now the preserve of the elite. The
poor, who constitute the majority, will not be able to access education.
Visit the Students
Solidarity Trust fact
sheet
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