THE Primary and Secondary Education ministry has ordered every pupil in Bulawayo to pay $1 each to enable the province to send a team to Masvingo for the National Youth Games. LINDA CHINOBVA OWN CORRESPONDENT
The games would be used to select athletes to represent Zimbabwe at the African Union Sports Council Region V Under-20 Youth Games to be held in Bulawayo in December.
According to a circular dispatched to all schools by Bulawayo provincial education director Dan Moyo, pupils should have paid the $1 by the close of business on Thursday.
“As a province, we are compelled to send teams to participate in the Zimbabwe Youth Games in Masvingo in August 2014.
“These games shall be used as a platform to select athletes who will represent the country in the African Union Sports Council Region V Under-20 Youth Games to be hosted in Bulawayo in December,” Moyo wrote in the circular.
“If the province does not send athletes to Masvingo, it means that no athlete from this province shall be considered for selection into the national teams. That could be a big blow to the province as we shall host athletes from other provinces without our own. I therefore request all schools to pay their $1 per child sports levy before July 31 2014 so that teams are sent to Masvingo.”
Moyo said there was nothing new and the circular was just a reminder to heads of schools and parents.
“There is nothing amiss with this development. There is nothing new about it. It is just a flow from last year and this is something that started in 1998 and why then should it be a problem now?” he said.
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However, some disgruntled parents said the ministry must not involve parents in fundraising as they were not consulted when the province bid to host the games.
“We are not happy with the ministry because they did not involve us in bidding for the games, but they now want to force us to fund the event.
“After all, it is not all of the pupils who will take part so why then is everyone being involved,” a parent with a child at Magwegwe High School quizzed.
Another parent with children at Nketa High School said parents should not be burdened with financially supporting a sporting event when they were already struggling to pay school fees.
“It is not a secret that most pupils’ fees are not paid up for the term. How then can we part with money to sponsor the games?
“The games are welcome in the province, but we cannot sponsor them, that is the government and relevant stakeholders’ duty,” she said.
