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Paul Mavhima

Bulawayo Bureau
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has warned schools to desist from conducting holiday lessons and allow pupils time to rest after a long term.

In an interview on Wednesday, the Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Paul Mavhima, said all schools must observe and follow the school calendar. Schools closed yesterday amid concerns that some of them were planning to conduct holiday lessons for examination classes at a fee.

“Our current position is that pupils should be given time to rest after being in school for three months,” said Mavhima.

He said the Government was concerned with teachers who were charging exorbitant fees for holiday lessons while disadvantaging children from less privileged families who could not afford to pay for the lessons.

A number of schools in Bulawayo, mostly primary schools, have indicated their intentions to conduct holiday lessons.

Some have communicated to parents that they will be charging $10 for grade seven vocational classes while high school teachers charge $30 to $50 per subject depending on the subject. Mavhima said it was illegal for schools to charge parents for extra lessons.

“This is an administrative issue. If you have names of any specific school that is conducting holiday lessons, contact the area Provincial Education Director (PED). Otherwise, we don’t allow pupils to be charged for extra lessons,” he said.

Bulawayo PED, Dan Moyo, said he had not received any report on the matter.

“We will investigate,” he said.

Last year, the Government banned holiday lessons saying they were being abused by teachers who were no longer teaching during the course of the term.

A parent whose child is in Grade Seven at a primary school in Gwabalanda said the school had told them to pay $10 for holiday lessons.

“They said we should pay $10, which will not be receipted. This is why we became suspicious of the whole programme,” said the concerned parent.

Announcing the ban last year, the Government said only schools that were disrupted during the school term would be allowed to conduct holiday lessons.

Last year, schools in Tsholotsho were allowed to conduct holiday lessons after floods forced some of the pupils to abandon classes.