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Union urges students to go back to college
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
February 27, 2009

The Zimbabwe National Students Union welcomes the announcements by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Dr Stan Mudenge that no students shall be barred from attending lectures for failure to pay tuition fees. We however wish to condemn in the strongest of terms overzealous Vice Chancellors and Principals who are defying the Minister's directive and are instead barring students from attending lectures. We strongly urge the government to put clear and concrete measures to ensure that college authorities abide by this decision and see to it that all students attended classes despite them not paying fees. This comes after some state institutions were this week barring students' from attending lectures for not paying fees despite the Minister's directive. On Monday 23 February the Higher Education Minister addressed vice chancellors and college principals instructing them to allow students to attend lectures even if they have not paid fees.

The announcement by the Minister comes as the government succumbed to pressure by students on the fees issue. From the day the new fee structure was announced the Zimbabwe National Students Union launched a campaign dubbed the 'National Campaign against Dollarization of Education in Zimbabwe' (NACADEZ) urging students in tertiary institutions not to pay fees in foreign currency. The campaign has been a huge success as indicated by the very low figures of students who paid the outrageous fees.

On this note, we wish to urge all the students in tertiary institutions to report to college and attend lectures this Monday the 2nd of March in line with the directive from the Minister. We also urge students to report anyone who will be responsible for barring students from attending lectures to the police and the Ministry of Higher Education.

We also take this opportunity to express our deep anger and disappointment in the manner in which the Presidential Scholarship to Fort Hare is being handled. Wednesday the 25th of February 2008, saw the last batch of students being sent off to South Africa at a colourful ceremony. As far as we are concerned we wish to categorically and unequivocally state that the scheme is flawed, as only sons and daughters of ZANU PF chefs are the beneficiaries at the expense of the poor but bright students. Further and most importantly, we strongly feel that all the resources being used for this scheme should have been used to improve the already dysfunctional Zimbabwe's education sector.

We remain committed to ensure that the following demands be addressed by this transitional government:-

• Academic freedoms and freedoms to associate assemble and expression at campuses restored and guaranteed to all students at tertiary institutions.
• Reinstatement of all suspended and expelled students back to their respective colleges unconditionally.
• Free and quality education for all.
• Grants and payouts to students as a cushioning mechanism
• A people driven constitution

The union will continue engaging all the relevant stakeholders' i.e. the government, parents and the students to see to it that sanity is restored in our education sector.

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