Fees shocker!

REASONABLY pegged school fees and project funds are inevitably required for smooth running of academic activities in a favourable environment.

Most schools in the country at various levels have been running the school calendar alongside infrastructure development projects in a more realistic and flexible manner; affordability and attainability are cardinal factors.

Shockingly, St Mary’s Secondary School in Lusaka has brazenly pegged project fund at K10,000 per pupils alongside K3,900 user fees. The K10,000 is to be paid before pupils set their feet in classrooms.

We are not in any way dismissing the imperative need to develop school infrastructure, but we are standing with the majority of parents who are calling for the downward adjustment of this outrageous figure.

The Catholic Church-run school must forthwith revisit this unrealistic and choking demand!

For a long time, the Catholic Church has been offering high quality social services even in the rural outposts of Zambia at a lower or no charge at all.

In Zambia, the Catholic has reached out to the hinterland such as Luano Valley in Mkushi and other areas which were only accessible by land cruisers or other bigger vehicles.

Hospitals, schools and hospices dotted around the country which are run by the Catholic are of high quality in both services and infrastructure. The emphasis in most cases, if not all, has been community service at a reasonably lower fee and not profit-making.

On that account, St Mary’s stunt is not only unrealistic but also scandalous and requires a deeper analysis even after the project fund has been revised downwards.

The Government has been forthright on school fees that they should not be exorbitant and this applies to institutions run by faith-based organisations.

This is the more reason why the Government has intervened in many cases where institutions have pegged fees at a sky-high level. St Mary’s should not be an exception.

Certainly, schools should be run on complementary basis in Government and faith-based organisations in order to ensure high quality and ultimately excellent results on part of pupils.

However, the contribution from the parents must be fixed at a feasible level while at the same time at a charge that will attain the project target.

If the project cost is high, implementation should be gradual such that payment plan for parents is in phases or reasonable instalments.

It is atrocious to demand K10,000 from each pupil at secondary school level in addition to the user fees which are equally high.

The Parents Teachers’ Association (PTA) should reconvene and review the shocking project fund.

It is equally shocking that the PTA approved such scandalous fees and we wonder if the association is representative enough.

While it is plain truth that St Mary Secondary School has been recording impressive results, the institution is not exclusively for the wealthy families. There are pupils from ordinary and also from middle-class citizens.

How many parents will promptly pay the K10,000? How many will be left out and what happens to those who cannot afford? Is the figure realistic to all parents?

These are the pertinent issues which the PTA ought to have addressed in coming up with the figure. It appears however that the PTA decision was bull-dozed by the wealthy and influential figures.

The few business gurus with so much disposable income are not representative enough and may not have the remotest idea of how other parents are faring.

Assuming that one parent has two children and another relative at the same school, how much would such a guardian part with at once?

Private schools which peg their fees and other requirements highly have their own clientele and target group.

Such institutions are exclusively for a specific group that is comfortable with excessively high fees commensurate with the highest quality of service in an accompanying serene environment.

This is not what obtains at St Mary’s.

The PTA and school management have no choice but to immediately reduce this figure.