FACT Zimbabwe dumps disadvantaged pupils at Nyamauru High School 

By Elizabeth Kucherera 

The decision by non-governmental organisation Family AIDS Caring Trust (Fact Zimbabwe) to cease paying school fees for disadvantaged pupils at Nyamauru High School in Manicaland has left both parents and the affected pupils in dire straits. What compounds the matter is that Fact Zimbabwe stopped supporting the pupils some two years ago, without informing parents and guardians.

But FACT Zimbabwe director Mrs Getrude Shumba dismissed the allegations.

“We are no longer paying school fees at that school and this was well communicated to the guardians and the school,” Mrs Shumba said.

FACT Zimbabwe is a Private voluntary Organization that was founded in 1987.

Facts on the ground show that FACT Zimbabwe silently withdrew from paying school fees for the disadvantaged pupils at Nyamauru high school in 2021, and failed to inform parents and guardians in time. School fees for the disadvantaged was last paid when they were in Form One.

The shocking news about this development only became public last month when the school engaged debt collectors who descended on the unsuspecting parents and guardians with demands for the huge shortfalls.

The victims received text messages from the debt collector with fees shortfalls they owe the school.

“I was not aware that FACT was no longer paying fees for my child,” said one irate parent who asked not to be named.

“My daughter was enrolled to the  Fact program when her biological mother – my young sister – died in 2019.

“Fact program enrolled her in 2019 at primary level up to secondary school and it’s a shock to receive a call from a debt collector that my daughter has some arrears for two years.”

Another victim, an elderly man, openly shed tears when desribing the situation he now finds himself in.

He said: “The school was supposed to tell us in time that FACT has stopped paying school fees for our children. I could have looked for alternative ways to pay school fees for my late brother’s kids,” he said.

The Nyamauru High aschool headmaster Mr Vitalis Chirenje blamed FACT Zimbabwe for stressing the parents and guardians of the disadvantaged pupils by not keeping their house in order.

“Fact could have made some mistakes. They did not deposit any money for fees for the affected pupils and this can only be corrected by them.

“The school is not a charity organization that is why a debt collector is calling parents and guardians who owe the school,” said Chirenje.

While this war of words rages on, the innocent pupils are the most affected as they do not know what the future holds for them in this impasse.