The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Torerayi Moyo on Monday, 18 December gazetted tuition fees for Government schools for 2024.
According to <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/2024-school-fees-gazetted/">The Herald</a>, tuition fees for primary schools for next year range from US$5 a term for P3 rural schools, US$10 a term for P2 schools in high-density suburbs and US$20 a term for P1 low-density suburban schools.
The tuition fees are set in US dollars but parents and guardians can pay in local currency at the exchange rate on the date of payment for Zimbabwean learners.
For secondary schools, the tuition fees for S1 schools in low-density suburbs were set at US$40 a term, for S2 schools in high-density suburbs at US$20 a term, and S3 schools in rural areas at US$10 a term.
The tuition fees for next year are contained in Statutory Instrument 240 of 2023, Education (Tuition and Boarding Fees) (Government Schools) (Amendment) Regulations, 2023 (No. 1).
Besides the gazetted tuition fees, and the expanded BEAM programme for learners from poor families, many public schools seek a top-up levy from parents through the school development associations (SDAs).
This is allowed, but most parents have to agree and the Ministry has to approve the charges.
Meanwhile, schools charge far more than the gazetted fees and school authorities have over the years devised ways to raise funds from parents.
These “innovative” ways include forcing parents and guardians to buy uniforms only from the school at exorbitant prices, and also organising trips and making learners pay more than the cost of the trip, among others.
In January 2023, a father of 2 minor children engaged the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) to compel the Goromonzi High School headmaster to accept the learners after he had barred them from the school for buying uniforms from shops instead of buying them from the school.
The Government has repeatedly warned schools against the practice but it hasn’t taken action to ensure that parents and guardians are not being exploited by unscrupulous school authorities.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Pindula News

2024 School Fees Gazetted

The High Court of Zimbabwe has set aside last year’s fees increase by the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) for undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
UZ students filed an urgent chamber application in September 2022 seeking an order reversing the 700 percent fee hike.
Undergraduate students were required to pay ZWL$500 000 while Masters students were required to pay a million for each semester.
In their application, the students, who were represented by the UZ Students Representative Council (SRC), said the raising of fees by the institution was unreasonable and irrational since the government had allocated $3.3 billion in the National Budget approved by the Parliament.
They submitted to the court that they could not afford the fees since most of them come from poor backgrounds.
In his ruling, High Court Judge, Justice Tawanda Chitapi, ordered that the fees increase, effected by UZ, be set aside.
Justice Chitapi further ordered UZ to pay the costs of the application incurred during the process. <a href="https://www.hmetro.co.zw/uz-fees-structure-resembles-a-tuckshop/">He ruled</a>:
<blockquote>
The first respondent (UZ Vice Chancellor Paul Mapfumo) was quite expected to be guided by the University Act which is clear on what powers he has as well as the powers of the Council and Senate.
It was quite astonishing that even the issue of payment of the increased fees was reduced to a tuckshop operation where discounts were given to students depending on the percentage of the total fees due if paid by a given date.
</blockquote>
In a notice dated 01 September 2022, UZ stated that those who were to pay 100 percent of their fees by the 31st of October 2022 were to enjoy a 12.5 percent discount.
It said those who pay 75 percent of their fees by 31 of October will enjoy a 10 percent discount while those that pay 50 percent will enjoy a 5 percent discount.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

High Court Rules UZ Fees Structure Resembles A Tuckshop

Sixteen (16) University of Zimbabwe (UZ) students who were arrested on Monday in connection with demonstrations against tuition fee hikes have all been released.
UZ recently increased undergraduate fees to between ZWL$300 000 and ZWL$500 000, up from ZWL$50 000, while some Master’s degree programme tuition fees were increased to close to ZWL$1 million.
The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) leader, Allan Chipoyi said the 16 students were all released. He said:
<blockquote>
Since Monday, police have been looking for the organisers of the demonstration that happened and they arrested 16 students who have so far been freed.
</blockquote>
Two of the students, Thelma Nzero (19) and Tinotenda Mwenje (21) appeared before Harare Magistrate, Taurai Manuwere and were remanded out of custody to 29 September.
The two, who were among 14 suspects that were detained at Avondale Police Station, were released on free bail Wednesday.
Their alleged accomplices were released on Tuesday after paying ZWL$2 000 admission of guilty fines at the police station for disorderly conduct.
Meanwhile, police arrested five more UZ students on Wednesday as they continued their search for the organisers of the Monday protests at the Mt Pleasant Campus. | <a href="https://www.newzimbabwe.com/5-more-uz-students-arrested-over-feesmustfall-protest/">NewZimbabwe.com</a>

Tuition Latest News

Latest Jobs