Alert – Schools fleecing parents/guardians

School authorities in some schools in Bulawayo have begun taking advantage of the recent delivering of textbooks by the Ministry of Education, Sport Arts and Culture to swindle parents and guardians of their money. Residents have complained that some schools are demanding that each child  should pay as much as $2 which is meant for purchasing of covers for the textbooks. While acknowledging that the textbooks should be covered, residents said they were concerned that schools could be taking advantage of the donation to demand funds which could be misappropriated by school authorities. Residents argued that $2 is an exorbitant amount  considering the price of covers. They also questioned why schools were not using money from levies and other fundraising activities such as civics day to purchase the covers.

BPRA believes that the demand by schools is a microcosm of a culture that has become entrenched in Zimbabwe’s schooling system in recent years. With the advent of teachers’ incentives and the entrenchment of traditions such as fun day and civics day that are designed to raise funds, schools have become too accustomed to demanding money from parents. This is problematic because schools often demand money and then fail to account for it. While it is commendable that schools hold fundraising activities to supplement income it is regrettable that such practices are now degenerating into money making ventures for school authorities. BPRA believes that schools should be able to provide covers for the books as was the case yesteryear when schools used to provide children with exercise books, pens, pencils and other materials.