School sued for barring pupil from writing exams
A PARENT, whose daughter was barred from sitting for Ordinary Level examinations this year due to fees arrears, is suing the school at the High Court.
Mavis Jakarasi has taken Arundel School to court seeking a declaratory order saying the school had no authority to prevent her child from sitting the examinations since examination and centre fees had been paid.
The respondents are the Trustees of Arundel School.
In her application, Jakarasi said her daughter has been a student since the beginning of 2019 and registered to sit for her Cambridge ‘O’ Level examinations for October and November, 2019.
However, due to fees arrears the child was not attending school since the beginning of third term of 2019 because she was constantly being sent back home.
“The problem arose when my child appeared to sit for her first examination on October 15, 2019, English Paper 2. The respondent’s school official, the Headmistress Mrs Pauline Makoni and her officials refused to allow her to sit for her examination,” read the application.
Jakarasi said she approached Justice for Children for assistance and the lawyers issued a letter of demand for the school to allow the child to sit for her examinations but she turned down.
She was advised that tuition had been raised to $44 000 for the term, and that the amount she owed them had equally increased on the day her daughter missed her second exam.
Jakarasi paid $18 000 and her daughter was allowed to sit for her History examination on October 18, 2019.
On October 21, 2019, the student was barred from writing her Mathematics examination and the school demanded that she pays the balance first.
“Though I owe tuition arrears, the school’s decision to bar my child from writing examinations that are not property or a program of Arundel School, but an independent external examinations body, on the basis of fees I owe to the school is unacceptable,” read the papers.
“Cambridge Examinations is an independent body to which I made full payment. That payment includes the examination fee and the centre fee. The child is thus fully paid to use Arundel School as an examination centre.
“The respondents have ample mechanisms available to them at law to pursue debt recovery against me than to bar her child from writing her examinations.”
Jakarasi paid $18 000 and her daughter was allowed to sit for her History examination on October 18, 2019.
THE Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) has donated 15 wheelchairs to people with disabilities as part of its humanitarian work through Commander Air Force of Zimbabwe Charity Funds (CAZCF).
Some of the other members received the wheelchairs at Air Force Headquarters at Josiah Magama Tongogara Barracks while the rest will be distributed to other provinces throughout the country.
Speaking during the handover ceremony last Thursday, Commander Airforce of Zimbabwe Charity Funds (CAZCF) board chairperson Mr Toendepi Muganyi said AFZ community projects should be cascaded to individuals who feel they are marginalised.
“. . . This came about after the charity fund Senior Health Reporter
PATIENTS seeking treatment at Harare City Council clinics were yesterday left stranded, while others had to wait for long periods to be attended to after nurses failed to turn up for work citing incapacitation.
By end of day yesterday, most nurses had heeded a call by their workers’ union to stop reporting for work.
Patients on anti- retroviral treatment ( ART) and those with chronic diseases such as diabetes had to wait for long periods before getting medication as available administrative staff tried to cope with the realised that projects that were only community centred carried less meaning if the needs of individuals were also not considered or incorporated into the charity matrix, hence the thrust for donations of assistive devices to people living with disabilities were added those that already existed,” said Mr Muganyi.
“This thrust is affirmed by our corporative efforts and shared idealism with the corporate world to reach out to those that feel they are less considered in prime humanitarian matters,” he said.
Mr Muganyi said they were working with the Ministry of Labour and Social Services to identify people with extreme cases throughout the country, adding the country has got many people with various forms of disability who need assistance.
“We thank the Ministry of Labour and pressure.
City Health director Dr Prosper Chonzi said the municipality might have to collapse other units, discharge patients who are stable and consolidate services should the situation remain unchanged.
“We have to come up with strategies to minimise damage and mitigate challenges,” he said.
“We might need to get all the sisters-in charge who are currently reporting for duty to go to our 12 Polyclinics so that patients get services there,”
Dr Chonzi said this could result in family health and satellite clinics being closed until Social Welfare who through their extensive presence in all provinces helped us identifying the deserving cases.
Zimbabwe still has a lot of people with challenges that are physiological, functional and mobility related. Unfortunately, most of them do not have assistive devices that can help them to function independently or with little or no assistance.”
He said Government through various initiatives was managing to curb stigma against disabled persons and incorporating them into all facets of communal activities.
Speaking at the same occasion AFZ Commander Air Marshal Elson Moyo said the donations were part of AFZ’s corporate social responsibility aimed at assisting communities.
“I am glad to say that the initial assistive normal services resumed.
“Our system is driven by nurses and in their absence we have difficulties in offering normal service,” he said.
The nurses, through their representative body, the Zimbabwe Urban and Rural Council Nurses Workers Union (ZURCNWU) said they had taken the position in light of the current economic challenges.
The nurses demanded that their salaries of about $1 000 be reviewed taking into account the prevailing interbank rate.
“We also want to bring it to your attention that your failure to address our members’ issues coupled with this current increase devices donation exercise last year gave us a big insight on the existing need for intervention in dire cases around the country,” said Air Marshal Moyo.
“The donations were part of AFZ corporate social responsibility and there are other projects running which include offering scholarships to bright children, clothes to newly born babies, school children and the elderly,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries, Miss Zvisinei Zulu thanked the AFZ for the gesture adding they were now able to travel some distances to socialise with others.
“I want to thank you for giving us wheelchairs for we are now able to go some distances to watch soccer, going to churches and meeting others which we were unable to do,” said Ms Zulu. in the price of fuel and basic commodities has left them severely incapacitated that they are now unable to report for duty,” read a statement signed by the ZURCNWU executive committee.
The situation at government hospitals remained desperate, with doctors vowing not to report for work as they await the final outcome of their disciplinary hearings.
The Health Services Board and the Ministry of Health and Child Care could not be reached to comment on the latest development, with some officials saying they wanted to first update Cabinet on the state of healthcare. Senior Reporter
THE trial of fired Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Prisca Mupfumira failed to start yesterday and was pushed further to December 9.
Initially, the court had set November 4 and 5 as the trial dates for four of the nine charges she is facing.
Regional Magistrate Mr Hoseah Mujaya set December 9 to 13 as the new trial dates.
This was after the State led by Ms Sharon Fero made an application for postponement of the case on the basis that after perusing the docket, they noticed there were some amendments which needed to be done.
“Your worship, when the docket was availed to us, we noted that there are some amendments that need to be attended to,” she said.
“From the time the parties last appeared in court to today, there wasn’t ample time for the State to make the amendments and prepare for trial.”
She then proposed December 9 to 13 as the new trial dates.
However, the defence team Mr Charles Chinyama and Mr Farai Mushoriwa had no kind words for the State, arguing that it needed to put its house in order.
They indicated that they were yet to be furnished with the relevant documents to enable them to prepare for their defence despite having asked for them on the last court appearance.
Mr Chinyama said the State was reducing a trial court into a remand court.
Also in the morning session, the magistrate had expressed displeasure in the manner the State was handling the matter.
Mupfumira, who is facing abuse of office, was also arrested on fresh charges of money laundering after allegedly conniving with a local bank to defraud the National Social Security Authority ( NSSA) of millions of dollars.
The former minister is being jointly charged with former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Ngoni Masoka.
Another charge which is also before the trial court emanated from an incident where she used money from the ministry to sponsor people who attended her child’s wedding in Cape Town, South Africa.