BULAWAYO East legislator Thabitha Khumalo has called on the government to act on barring of students from the Zimbabwe School of Mines from attending lessons over non-payment of fees.
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This is the second time that the School of Mines has sent away students for non-payment of fees.
More than 400 were turned away in August when the institution opened for the current term.
Khumalo said she raised the matter with Higher and Tertiary Education Science and Technology Development minister Olivia Muchena at Parliament on Wednesday.
“The institution is sending away final-year students two months before they sit for examinations,” she said.
“We cannot have students being chased away from school before they sit for their last examinations. It puts to waste all the years they have spent in their studies. That does not help the country in any way.
“I raised the issue with Muchena when we met at Parliament on Wednesday and she said they would look into the matter. “However, the issue needs urgent attention because the students are now stranded,” Khumalo added.
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She said the government should consider writing off the students’ fees as they had done with utility debts.
“It is the same parents that were failing to pay for utility bills that are paying school fees. Maybe they should also consider writing off school fee debts as well so that students can continue with their studies,” she said.
In the run-up to the July 31 elections, Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo directed local authorities to scrap all outstanding domestic debts accumulated between February 2009 and June 30 2013 in what observers interpreted as a vote-buying attempt by Zanu PF in urban areas.
Chombo claimed the move to scrap the rates was in line with Zanu PF’s pro-poor policies championed by President Robert Mugabe.
Most tertiary students have been forced to abandon their studies in the last four years after the government suspended the grants and loan system.
The government introduced the cadetship programme, but tertiary institutions still sent away students for non-payment of fees.
