Schools To Abide By Gvt Directive As Mopse Begins Tour-Ndoro

Zimbabwean schools are expected to abide by the government’s directive on a plethora of issues that has dogged public schools for ages which include but is not limited to tuition fees, wrongly charging exclusively in forex, buying of school uniforms from certain mandated uniform firms including schools themselves and a littany of other charges parents and guardians have complained to the ministry of primary and secondary education (Mopse).The Mopse spokesperson and Communications and Advocacy Director Taungana Ndoro confirmed this to TechnoMag.

“We are going to tour schools across the country over the next few weeks starting on Tuesday,” Ndoro said.

“Various teams from the Ministry of Education, myself included, will tour schools in all provinces to assess if schools are adhering to the gazetted tuition fees, or whether learners are being turned away for non-payment of fees and if the directive on uniforms is being adhered to.

“Our schools promote safety and commit to doing due diligence against any sort of disasters; therefore, we expect a smooth opening to the 2024 school calendar.”

Ndoro also added weight on the hot issue of rapid response teams, adding that whilst they continue receiving complaints from parents he expects schools to abide by Mopse directive: “The complaints (received) range from issues to do with schools that charge unapproved fees and levies, or that charge exclusively in foreign currency, or that oblige parents to purchase uniforms and stationery at certain schools or from a certain supplier.

“There were also complaints against paid-for extra lessons, and the Government has warned and cautioned the respective schools, most of which have complied with Government directives.”

“As a ministry, we will ensure that each school has a disaster risk management team, which should have an operational plan and which conducts regular disaster preparedness drills not just for floods, but also any sort of disasters or emergencies such as strong winds, wild animals, fire, storms, communicable diseases, et cetera,” Ndoro added.