Deal severely with heartless school heads

EDITOR - There is an urgent need to disinfect our schools of school heads who violate our children’s rights by barring them from sitting for their external examinations which are crucial in determining their future prospects.

Sending a child to school is not only a family investment, but a national investment, that is why Government pays teachers in conventional schools, and even ancillary staff in Government institutions. If a school head trivialises this fact to satisfy his ego, then the relevant authority or ministry should descend heavily on him.

Being a school head is an extension of parenthood and barring a child from sitting a national examination for reasons outside the consideration of the examination board is a blatant violation of that role.

What does paying for holiday lessons have to do with ZIMSEC examination requirements? The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has made it clear that these lessons are not meant to be compulsory. School heads should desist from personalising public office to the extent of inventing their own “statutes”.

The case of Tsengerai Primary School in Nyanga as reported in The Manica Post of October 13-19, 2017 might not be the only one. Parents should not shy away from reporting inhumane behaviour from school heads, as once a child is in school, it means we have surrendered their intellectual welfare into the school system.

In the past, we have read about school heads who have disallowed candidates from participating in national examinations for wearing the wrong shoes to the examination room.

Such school heads should be punished severely. I for one do not expect the relevant authority or ministry to treat such school heads with mercy, for example demoting them, instead of dismissing them from the service.

However, there are some organisational lapses in the management of public examinations in Zimbabwe. The examination board should deploy staff to monitor the conduct of examinations throughout the country.

The examination authority should never put too much trust in the school system. School teachers who are already well versed with examination regulations can be hired to perform this duty, just as ZEC hires staff from various sections of the public service to conduct elections.

The sad thing about ruthless school heads is that they do not act out of ignorance, but out of an archaic mindset that makes them treat the schools they run as personal fiefdoms. The relevant ministry should just purge our schools of such rogue elements.

Nhamo Muchagumisa, Penhalonga