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State failure to avert violation of the right to education deplorable
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
May 05, 2010

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has noted with grave concern developments reported in The Herald today about the victimisation and harassment of our most vulnerable citizens, the children.

Although schools opened on Tuesday 4 May 2010, many pupils were allegedly barred from attending their classes by school authorities, more specifically School Development Associations (SDAs), over non-payment of tuition fees and levies. What is extremely disturbing is the report that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) were called in to certain schools in unclear circumstances and for unclear purposes. It is not yet apparent whether these actions were sanctioned by the Ministry of Education, Sports & Culture.

The ZRP are well-known for their heavy-handed and often unprocedural and unlawful actions. ZRP members have been known in the past to have used excessive and unjustifiable force on innocent citizens who are seeking to peacefully advance their basic fundamental human rights. They have no place in schools or anywhere near innocent children whose peace of mind and security has already been disrupted by arbitrary action to prevent them from attending classes.

The Minister of Education Sports and Culture, Senator David Coltart, stated that one of his broad policy goals is to restore basic education for all Zimbabwean children. By allowing or failing to foresee and/or prevent a situation in government schools whereby SDAs and other dubious authorities are permitted to, or not stopped from, taking such heavy-handed, unlawful and disruptive action in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the Ministry is highlighting the lack of clarity on how this policy is being implemented, and its arbitrary nature. This is especially so, given the fact that many children continue to be turned away from schools over non-payment of tuition fees, although it is only the Ministry which has the power to enforce such extreme action.

The right to education is fundamental for all children and it directly impacts on the exercise and enjoyment of all other rights. It also functions as an early empowerment tool, as an educated person is armed with knowledge to demand and assert their fundamental rights and freedoms. The right finds expression in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, amongst other regional and international instruments.

Zimbabwe is a state party to these instruments. As such, the government, through the Ministry of Education, has an obligation to respect, promote, protect and fulfill the right to education. Primary education has two distinctive features: it must be compulsory and available free for all. This position is reiterated in United Nations General Comment No. 13. The ICESCR stipulates that the government has an obligation to ensure that the right is progressively realised by all children.

The conduct of the SDAs, seemingly condoned by the Ministry's inaction and failure to prevent this unacceptable situation, is a blatant violation of such obligations and must not be tolerated.

This appalling conduct also departs from Millennium Development Goal No. 2 that encourages states to ensure that by 2015 all primary school children complete schooling.

ZLHR calls on the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture to urgently clarify its position and to ensure that SDAs, the ZRP, and all other retrogressive elements which have no authority to interfere with schooling, desist from directly or indirectly interfering with the right to education of all children. Those involved in the scandalous behaviour reported at various schools yesterday must be held to account so that no such further incidents are allowed to occur.

The Ministry must urgently put into place concrete measures to ensure that all children are allowed to continue to attend classes even in instances where they have not yet paid fees. Further it must take measures to progressively ensure that there is no requirement for tuition fees at primary and secondary school level.

ZLHR will not hesitate to take legal action to protect the rights of children who have been exposed to such conduct and we are already taking instructions from parents to seek redress against the authorities.

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