Zimrights lead march against introduction of Grade 7 exam fees

HARARE – Human rights pressure group ZimRights on Thursday organized a march against the introduction of examination fees at Grade 7 as well as against the increase of the same at O’ Level.

O’ level examination fees were raised from $13 a subject to $15 whilst grade seven exam fees has been set to $3 per subject. This move by the Minister of Education, Sport and Culture, Lazarus Dokora, did not go down well with the parents who are already battling to raise the required school fees in the harsh economic meltdown being experienced in Zimbabwe.

Parents spoke out against the insensitive move by the ministry as they bemoaned how little the government understood their plight. Most of the parents who turned up at the march were mostly informally employed as vendors as well as other menial job takers.

“We have no jobs so where does the government expect us to get the money from?” one parent asked.

“What use is a grade seven certificate? This is just a money-milking gimmick by the ministry. Civil servants have not received an increment in salaries so where do we get the extra money? No to grade seven examination fees! Dofora must just resign!” fumed another parent.

One little boy shared his story of how he had to drop out of school because his mother could not afford to pay his school fees.

In March of this year, Dokora’s ministry revealed that 13 000 children dropped out of school in 2013, a 43% increase from the previous year. Most of the dropouts were due to inability to meet the school fees.

The hundreds of people who showed up for the march that started off from ZimRights head office located along Fourth Street, into Jason Moyo Avenue towards Third Street. They turned left into Third Street towards Eastgate then left into Speke Avenue ending up at Chester House building where the offices of the Education Department are located.

The Petition addressed to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, was then presented to the Provincial Regional Director by one of the children who had been a part of the procession.

Copies of the petition were also sent to the Parliament of Zimbabwe demanding reversal of the move.

ZimRights national director, Okay Machisa was very clear that “Education is a right not a privilege” and that the introduction of the examination fees as well as the increment of the O’ Level examination fees was a burden to the people of Zimbabwe that must be withdrawn immediately.