Council schools bursars under-qualified

BURSARS at most Harare City Council primary schools have no professional qualifications or five O-Levels, the Auditor-General’s report has revealed.

In her December 31, 2016 report, Auditor-General Mrs Mildred Chiri said this would imply potential mis-statement due to errors in accounting records by the under-qualified bursars.

“An inspection of the primary school bursars’ personal files revealed that some personal files had no evidence of adequate qualifications,” she said.

“Human resources minutes dated 10 October 2016 of the appointment and vacancy notice number DHCS/05/16 indicated the requisite qualifications for the bursar position as; five O-Levels, diploma in accounting and two years relevant experience.

“I was not able to verify whether the bursars are adequately qualified for their positions since there was no evidence of academic qualifications in their personal files.”

Mrs Chiri noted that Warren Park 5, Glen Norah Infill, Budiriro 5, Budiriro 2, Kuwadzana 7, Kuwadzana 8, Kuwadzana 2 and Lytton primary schools’ bursars had Ordinary Level as their highest qualification.

Kuwadzana 6 Primary School’s bursar had a Pitman in Business Communication, while Sunningdale 5 Primary School had ICDL as the highest qualification.

The records also revealed that the Westlea Primary School bursar had only two O-Levels; Glen View 9 Primary School (O-Level English), while Glen View 8 Primary School bursar had no qualifications at all.

Mrs Chiri recommended that council ensured bursars were adequately qualified for their positions and that all bursars’ qualifications were filed in their personal files. In response, the council management said the matter would be addressed.

“The information of the bursars’ qualifications has been submitted and council will attend to the issue of maintaining full records of the bursars in their personal files,” said the council officials.