Parents running down public schools
IT is every parent’s dream that their children excel in life. At the start of every school term, proud parents post pictures of their bundles of joy, especially infants as they start the long journey in pursuit of knowledge. When the children pass public examinations such as the ongoing Grade Seven, Form Four and Upper Six examinations, parents share their excitement on social media platforms.
Indeed, it is good for parents to offer moral support for their children and even celebrate their success.
While some parents strive to ensure that their children receive the best of education, there has been a worrying trend where some parents have neglected the responsibility that comes with investing in education.
Some parents and guardians, taking advantage of the Government’s policy that pupils must not be sent away, have neglected the responsibility of paying school fees.
Interestingly, some of the parents and guardians fail to pay fees but become proponents of child rights and are quick to invite the Press to expose the school especially when administrators violate the pupils’ rights to education by sending the learners home to remind them to honour their responsibility and pay school fees.
Indeed, the child’s right to education must not be violated by irresponsible parents and an overzealous school administrator.
Some parents and guardians have even gone further to take schools to court especially when the institutions withhold public examination results for candidates.
The reality is that public schools are struggling to operate due to non-payment of fees, some of them are even running on zero budgets.
The City of Bulawayo has on several occasions disconnected water supplies to some public schools for defaulting on rates.
Even the infrastructure at some public schools is dilapidated and authorities argue that failure to generate revenue has contributed to their declining standard.
The failure to pay school fees has also seen Parliamentarians debating the matter, calling on the executive to come up with a solution to the problem.
Umzingwane National Assembly member Cde Levi Mayihlome debating in Parliament recently said parents and guardians were abusing Government’s policy that prohibits schools from sending away pupils for non-payment of fees.
He said this leaves schools struggling to operate.
“The headmasters or the school administrators are in a dilemma. They don’t know what to do when they cannot meet the operating costs for schools because children have not paid schools on the one hand and on the other hand, the law does not give a free hand to deal with the parents but at the same time we expect these school administrators to be efficient in running these schools,” said Cde Mayihlome.
He said Government should come up with a firm policy on how school administrators can deal with parents who refuse to pay fees for their children.
Before Zimbabwe adopted the 2013 constitution, schools could send away pupils for non-payment of fees and that compelled parents to pay up.
But following adoption of the 2013 Constitution, the High Court outlawed sending away pupils for non-payment of fees ruling that the contract on payment of fees was between the parent and the school and a child should not be affected by parents’ failure to meet obligations.
Parents partly administer schools through the School Development Committee (SDC).
In an interview, Njube High School treasurer and a parent Mr Clever Mutasa said schools cannot develop if fees are not paid and it is worrying that some parents and guardians do not care about the payments.
“As the SDCs, we’re responsible for the running of schools. We have to pay ancillary staff and pay bills for the school. But non-payment of fees has affected the running of the school,” he said.
Mr Mutasa said some learners have not paid fees beyond their enrolment year.
“We have learners who have only paid for enrolment, thereafter they don’t pay fees until they complete Form Four or even Form Six and this has had an impact on the running of schools. To deliver education, there’s stationery that is consumed by schools to enhance education. So, it’s difficult to run schools without payment of fees,” said Mr Mutasa.
He said parents and guardians should take children’s education as an investment as there can never be quality education without money.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive officer Dr Sifiso Ndlovu said the non-payment of fees has led to declining standards in public schools compared to private ones.
“Actually, that is what is affecting public schools as they are not properly maintained. In the past, Government used to extend funding to schools for procurement of education material before it said SDCs should take over the running of schools. Standards continue to decline in public schools compared to privately-run ones, which are paying teachers and have tools and equipment to run their schools. In public schools, we have children who even go without books,” said Dr Ndlovu.
He said while not sending pupils away is a constitutional obligation, there is a need to find ways to compel parents and guardians to pay schools otherwise failure to do so will result in regression in the education sector.
Dr Ndlovu said Government should also expedite disbursing the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) fund which supports vulnerable learners in schools.
Government is targeting to pay school fees for 1,5 million vulnerable learners using BEAM.
Dr Ndlovu said delays in disbursement of BEAM results in schools not getting real value for the allocations.
“Government must act and address the simmering challenge in the education sector. Otherwise our schools will be worse off in the coming next two years. If the challenges are not addressed, we are going to knock down the achievements that have been made in the education sector so far,” said Dr Ndlovu.
Primary and Secondary Education Permanent Secretary Mrs Tumisang Thabela said parents and guardians need to understand that payment of fees is a lifetime investment.
She said they need to have a change of attitude in terms of how they value education.
Mrs Thabela said parents and guardians are happy to pay for other services, however, find it difficult to invest in the education sector.
“You will notice that education is in the same economic environment as any other sector. The same policies that guide the world outside the classroom are the same policies that guide us as the education sector. We really are not different. The only difference is that parents find it easy to go to a shop and not negotiate and buy whatever they need at whatever price,” said Mrs Thabela.
She said society does not seem to value education. “But when it comes to education, we have not understood its importance. So, we don’t tend to value it, we want to get it for free and anything that is gotten for free is not the best thing.”
She said parents and guardians should appreciate that education is a life-long investment that should never be compromised.
“As communities, we need to understand that although education’s profit comes maybe
16 to 20 year later, it’s a life-long investment and once parents understand that, I don’t think we’ll be talking about the problem of non-payment of fees. They’re looking for quick profit and they can’t get that in education,” she said.
Primary and Secondary Education Ministry communication and advocacy director Mr Taungana Ndoro said some parents are to blame for running down public schools.
“This issue is really a cause for concern with some of the parents and guardians whom we encourage to pay fees to schools so that the institutions may be able to cater for their day-to-day needs and overhead expenses. There are parents who, for instance, enrol their child for Form One and never come back to the school to commit to pay school fees,” said Mr Ndoro.
“They disappear for the next four years and schools have a bad debt for those children. I think it will be fair for parents to come to the school and advise us on what will be happening in the family situation.”
He said Government cannot produce quality education without contribution from parents.
Mr Ndoro said Government schools, urban council schools and rural schools are the worst affected by parents who default on fees.
He said there is more responsibility among parents with learners in private schools who create contracts compelling the payment of fees.
Mr Ndoro said in line with Government policy, some schools have established enterprises enabling the smooth running of institutions despite failure to pay fees.
“Some of our schools are keeping their heads above water because of the projects that they do in the schools. They have nutritional gardens, poultry, piggery and some tuck-shops which assist them in ensuring that they are able to run the day-to-day operations of the schools, pay amenities, water and electricity as well as pay ancillary staff. But there are other schools that are in dire stress,” said Mr Ndoro. — @nqotshili