EXAM FEES, EXTRA LESSONS HEADACHE FOR PARENTS
Parents and guardians with children in exam classes are reeling under the yoke of costly extra lessons, and the impending deadline for exam fees payment, more-so for those with children in independent colleges where Government subsidies are not extended to.
According to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in Manicaland, public secondary schools in the province have enrolment figures of 25 523 boys and 23 717 girls, giving a total of 49 240, while independent colleges have enrolment figures of 7 865 boys and 8 330, giving a total of 16 195.
Independent colleges in Manicaland have Form Four enrolment figures of 1 449 and 1 506 girls to give a total of 2 955, while A-Level learners in their books amount to 387 boys and 347 girls to give a total of 734.
Most schools have set March 20 as the deadline for exam fees payments for Grade Seven, Form Four and Form Six candidates, at a time when the same hard-pressed parents and guardians are dealing with costs relating to extra lessons being provided by teachers outside the normal school learning schedule.
While Government has eased the burden on parents in formal schools by paying half of the amount required for seven subjects, at O-Level for example, the same privilege is not extended to children in privately owned institutions.
Given the acute shortage of schools in communities, parents and guardians enrolled their children in sprouting relatively affordable private schools.
However, when contacted for a comment, Primary and Secondary Education Minister, Honourable Torerai Moyo said Government provided enough places for every learner who intends to enroll in public schools.
“At the moment, we are focusing on public schools when it comes to subsidies on exam fees. We are of the position that parents and guardians who take their children to private schools make a choice to do so because we have enough public schools.
“In fact, we have always assisted parents who fail to secure places for their children in public schools. What we know for a fact is that some parents and guardians choose to take their children to independent colleges because they will be running away from debts incurred in public schools. Some of the children will be repeating in independent colleges. Otherwise, we do not have cases of parents and guardians who fail to secure places in public schools,” said Minister Moyo.
While the exam fees burden is taking its toll on parents and guardians, the cost of extra lessons is also extra load. Most O and A-Level learners have to pay US$10 per subject for extra lessons that are provided in schools, rented accommodation in the Central Business District and residential areas backyards.
Primary school learners have to part ways with a dollar a day for the same.
However, Minister Moyo said: “The issue of extra lessons remains outlawed according to the provisions of Government through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
“In fact, we are punishing those found on the wrong side of the law. Once we get all the necessary evidence that extra lessons are being conducted at a school, we do not hesitate to crack the whip.”
Parents and guardians feel the urge to enroll their children for extra lessons for fear of remaining behind as other learners attend the same, while teachers are also not giving maximum effort during normal learning hours so that they get more numbers at their extra lessons classes where they charge a given amount of money.
Learners who fail to attend extra lessons are placed in a ‘refrigerator’, meaning that they get less attention from the teacher during the normal learning hours. *_-Manica Post_*
