Parents in Uproar over exclusive US dollar fees

Regina Mundi uproar over exclusive USD fees

By Delicious Mathuthu

There is uproar at Regina Mundi High School amongst some parents and guardians after the School Development Committee (SDC) conducted a meeting with some parents and resolved that all fees should be paid exclusively in United States Dollars (USD).

Kwedu News can reveal that the school, on opening day, called for a parents meeting where they were allegedly hoodwinked by the SDC to allow the school to charge fees exclusively in USD.

Parents who spoke to Kwedu News complained that the move is illegal and against government regulations which allow payment of school fees in local currency even if pegged in USD, at the prevailing interbank rate.

During the meeting, after a lengthy debate on the way forward in terms of currency and ratios to pay between USD and the local currency, parents who managed to attend the meeting unanimously voted for exclusively USD payments, an agenda which was being pushed by the SDC.

The SDC said this will ensure the school retains value after fees are paid in order to efficiently run the institution.

Speaking during the meeting, Regina Mundi SDC Chairperson, Mr Okay Machisa, said parents and the school needed to agree on the way forward in order to ensure the school runs smoothly financially.

“This meeting has been called at the backdrop of the economic hardships that the whole country is facing.

“On the 19th of March when we had our Annual General Meeting (AGM) we pegged and agreed on a fee structure where we all agreed that we were going to pay US$700 for boarders… looking at the highest figure.

“We all agreed that 30 percent of that amount of money was going to be paid in RTGS, whether boarder or day scholar,” Machisa said.

He said due to prevailing high inflation, the 30 percent RTGS proposed has been eroded which promted the meeting.

“We had to sit down and we said no, lets call the parents and collectively look at this 30 percent as RTGS or alternative.

“Fundamentally (the meeting) is to look at the welfare of our children as they are in this school for the next three months,” he said.

During the meeting, it was resolved that the second term 2023 fees remain US$700 (boarding) as proposed in the AGM but no more RTGS payments going forward for those who are yet to pay.

Those who had already paid will not be affected.

Proposed was either shift the fee structure to 85% USD and 15% RTGS or pay US$700 exclusively; the latter prevailed.

This is despite a warning from Government through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education that all fees should be approved first, and demanding for exclusive payment of fees in USD was illegal.

Speaking in the Senate recently, Education Deputy Minister Edgar Moyo said payment of fees is guided by Government and all currencies are legal tender.

He said schools diverting from government laws will face disciplinary action.

Some parents at Regina Mundi who attended the emergency meeting, and some who failed to, are opposed to the USD exclusive fee structure.

“We are aggrieved nekuroverwa musaga so that we pay unapproved $700 USD,” said one parent.

“There are no minutes of previous engagements, no official letter from Ministry to say this is an applied for and approved fee, never,” another parent said.

“Yes, it’s not approved and they use the same strategy of ambushing few parents who don’t even constitute a quorum to make critical day decisions.

“Imagine the same person who has to attend to other kids on opening day is the same person who is supposed to attend the meeting, the same parent who is queuing outside to pay the unexpected top up so that they get a gate pass yet they are the ones who refused people to pay in time.

“And the unfortunate part most parents were inconvenienced by the Pakame bus situation…but they continue with the stupid mission and say parents have voted,” another aggrieved parent retorted on the decision.

“Am sure you are quite aware that schools seek authority to charge these fees, if the authority is not granted or yet to be granted I hope you know the consequences which the defence of volatility of the currency is a nullity.

“Whatever justification you present should be supported by facts and the law,” another said.

Some said they have been at the school for years and approval letters from the Ministry have been presented traditionally but the new administration at the school has diverted from that.

“If Sister Jangara was running the same school on RTGS, what has changed right now with whats happening, toilets are still blocking, teachers are still nowhere to be found, the uniform quality is totally a mess, lunch and breakfast supply for day scholars is chaotic,” another aggrieved parent said.

The Education Act,
on fees and levies payable at non-Government schools, states that
“no responsible authority shall charge any fee or levy; or
increase any fee or levy;
in respect of any pupil attending a non-Government school, unless it makes prior application therefore to the Commission in writing, through the Secretary; setting out the full details of the fee or levy or increase thereof, the basis upon which it is calculated, and proof that its proposal has been approved…and the Commission has approved the fee or levy or increase thereof, as the case may be.

“The Commission shall not approve any increase of fees or levies sought in respect of the next term of the
non- Government school concerned unless, the increase of such fees and levies are justified by reference to some basis other than the application of
the consumer price index.

“And the proposal to increase fees or levies has been approved by a majority of the parents at a meeting of the
School Parents Assembly attended by not less than twenty per centum of the parents.”

Meanwhile, the school said it has procured a new 125kv generator which has since been installed for power back up.

On the school staff turn over, the school said some teachers have left the institution but have since been replaced and the school is fully staffed except for the Ndebele subject.