Fees hike likely to force more children out of school

Parents and educationists in Zimbabwe have warned that a rise of more than 1,000 percent in school fees will force larger numbers of children to drop out and preclude others from all education. Inflation has hit a new high of 913 percent, bringing a 12-fold rise in the cost of essentials. All schools, including those run by the government, said they would have to enforce the increases, effective from May. This is the second time this year that school fees have been hiked. Parents had to fork out more money in January this year after private and missionary schools raised tuition by between 150 percent and 500 percent. From May, the fees in government-run primary schools will go up from US $4 a term to $18, while pupils in missionary schools will pay $564 instead of $221 per term. Pupils in private schools will have to lay out around $1,000, up from $440 they paid last term. "To say the increase is too much is to understate this problem - it is simply unaffordable for everyone. This is no longer a matter of haves and have-nots; this increase is too much for everyone, poor and rich," a parent in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, remarked. According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, an average family of five requires at least $350 every month for essential food and services, but average monthly incomes are often less than $100. Leonard Nkala, former president of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association, told IRIN that the new fee structure could only worsen the school dropout rate, and many children would miss the opportunity of ever going to school. "Inasmuch as people struggle to send their children to school, even in these difficult circumstances, we have come to a point where people just want to give up. Many people are now talking more about practical courses, which are cheaper and shorter, than the academic process, which has just become unaffordable," he commented. According to UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) statistics for the period 1996 to 2004, only 44 percent of boys and 42 percent of girls enrolled in a secondary school attended classes. "Zimbabwean children are faced with some of the worst hardships confronting children anywhere in the world," said UNICEF spokesman James Elder. Zimbabwe has been experiencing runaway price increases since 2000, causing living standards to plummet as salaries failed to match the rate of inflation. Many parents told IRIN that their children would have to drop out of school and look for work to help support the family. The high cost of schooling has eroded the long-held notion that education was the right of every Zimbabwean, said Nkala. "Education is now for those with the money ... given the widespread retrenchments, soaring unemployment rates and a food crisis that refuses to go." The ministry of education was unable to comment on whether the government, which reimposed price controls on basic commodities last week, would move to act against the tuition fee increases.