The Primary & Secondary Education Minister Cain Mathema has issued a stern warning to schools that are unilaterally planning or hiking school fees and charging foreign currency without approval and said they will be deregistered if they ignore the government’s directive, The Sunday Mail reports.
While speaking to the publication, Minister Mathema said;
I must warn them that I will not hesitate to deregister those out of line. We need as many schools open as possible, but regulations must be adhered to.
Some schools even have the guts to charge in US dollars, openly, in broad daylight we are saying that is not good. It must stop!
I have seen some invoices but as Government, we don’t think this is the right time for people to be asking about money when everyone else is worried about human life.
Having said that, I would like to emphasise that all fees increases have to be approved by the Permanent Secretary (Mrs Thabela Tumisang) and there are no such applications at the ministry yet.
Private schools have reportedly hiked their fees already. Schools were supposed to open this week but the president has said it is still unsafe for pupils to attend school right now as the COVID-19 risk remains relatively high.
More: The Sunday Mail