Coltart defends schools

NewsDay

By Sheryleen Masuku

13 September 2012

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart yesterday defended headmasters for sending pupils away for not paying fees, saying government and parents should take the blame for humiliating children.

Coltart’s remarks come in the wake of reports that a number of schools had sent pupils back home when schools opened for the third term this week over outstanding fees contrary to a ruling by the High Court and a government directive ordering schools to stop the practice.

In an interview, Coltart blamed the inclusive government for failing to prioritise education in the country.

“The government has not made education a real priority,” he said. “It spends a lot of money on other issues. For example, this year government allocated $5,5 million to education and $35 million to defence, that is about six times more than the amount that has been allocated to education. The inclusive government needs to make education a priority.”

Coltart said headmasters should not be blamed for sending pupils away because they were not getting money from government.

“They need money to run the schools and pay for groundsmen and other things. As a result headmasters are finding themselves in a difficult situation.”

He said the pupils were the worst affected as they were caught in the middle of a fight between their parents and the schools.

“Children are being used as weapons to source payment by both their parents and their schools,” he said.

“It is humiliating for children to be sent back home, but on the other hand if parents do not pay it leads to the collapse of the education system.

“Parents also need to prioritise their children’s education and make sacrifices. In some instances schools are asking for only $20 and we have cases were both parents are working and failing to pay and yet they spend money on beer and airtime whist they are failing to pay fees.”

He said there was need to deeply analyse the challenges facing both parents and headmasters.
A headmaster at a Bulawayo school visited by NewsDay yesterday dismissed claims from his students that they were being sent home for non-payment of fees.

“We do not send children away, but we give them letters to take to their parents reminding them about outstanding fees and also inviting them to come and negotiate terms of payment with us,” he said.

Students at the school revealed that classrooms were more than half empty with most schoolmates having been sent back home over outstanding fees.