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Dr Dokora

REVELATIONS by Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Lazarus Dokora in The Herald yesterday that some schools in Manicaland Province have been charging parents a “child levy” without the knowledge and blessing of Government are shocking.

The minister further revealed that consultations done by his ministry countrywide showed that some School Development Committee members exempted themselves from paying fees. This means that their children enjoy free education. The remarks by the minister point to a fast decaying education sector in which corruption is running riot.

That over 500 000 pupils in Manicaland Province alone have been paying this dubious levy without the knowledge of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education suggests that someone in the very ministry was either sleeping on duty or benefiting from the arrangement.

Surely, there are officials from the Ministry of Education in Manicaland Province who should have banged the alarm bell a long time ago.

Only God knows why parents — reeling under the current economic hardships characterised by the scarcity of the American dollar — were being made to pay colonial kind of levies like “child levy”.

While we are yet to establish how much parents were being forced to pay as child levy, we suggest that they be refunded by whoever collected the money.

We salute Dr Dokora for directing Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango to investigate the matter and bring the culprits to book as a matter of urgency.

The education sector plays a crucial role in the development of this country and cannot be turned into a “tollgate” where the greedy callously fatten their pockets from the sweat and blood of parents, many of whom are struggling to send their children to school.

While we salute Dr Dokora for opening this can of worms, we are worried by what he goes on to suggest about the same issue.

We quote him: “And so we will be following up on that to see whether there is now a fund that the education sector can tap into to improve conditions of learning and teaching in schools themselves.”

Our advice to the minister is that parents do not need yet another levy.

What they are paying now is enough to improve the education sector. What has been lacking in our schools over the years is monitoring of usage of resources by the ministry.

Week in, week out, there have been reports on the abuse of school fees by headmasters in connivance with SDC members.

For example, The Herald reported recently on the blatant abuse of funds at Seke 1 High School in Chitungwiza, where the school head blew over $200 000.

We were further told the school claims to have sunk a borehole for a whopping $19 000, an amount enough to sink five if not more boreholes.

The last we heard about the story was that the ministry had dispatched a team of investigators to Seke 1 High. The headmaster is still reporting for duty as if everything is normal.

The SDC says it is surprised why the ministry is allowing him to continue reporting for duty fearing he might tamper with evidence.

One question immediately crops up — is the ministry merely investigating the matter because The Herald reported on it? What if it had not? It all boils down to a systems breakdown in the ministry where you have SDC members, the headmaster and some officials in the ministry conniving.

This must surely come to an end Dr Dokora, so that parents have confidence in paying school fees fully knowing it is an investment in their children’s education.

Words and threats alone will not halt the mess in the education sector. It is time for action and action must surely be taken. Last time we heard that the ministry had instituted audits in all schools countrywide.

It would be interesting Dr Dokora for parents and the nation at large to know the findings of the audits. We plead with your office to make them public so that together we fight corruption that is threatening our social fabric.