The Sunday News
Vincent Gono, Features Editor
SCHOOLS that have charged formal candidates centre fees for Zimsec November examinations have been ordered to reverse the transactions.
Zimsec Headquarters
The order comes amid widespread reports that some school heads were putting a strain on parents by demanding between US$10 and US$25 as centre fees for formal examination candidates enrolled in their schools.
Sunday News understands that at some schools, learners were ordered to pay the centre fees as a precondition for examination registration.
Previously, centre fees were paid by external candidates while formal learners were exempted from paying that fee, the logic being that they were paying school fees.
Director of Communications and Advocacy in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Taungana Ndoro told Sunday News that the Ministry has not received formal complaints but the Government policy stated that formal candidates should not pay centre fees.
“We are not aware of that but we will be investigating the matter.
Students in formal school are not to be charged that fee. It is illegal for schools to do that.
Those that are doing so should stop while those that have done so already should reimburse the parents,” he said.
Sunday News has names of some schools where parents had already paid the fees.
“We were told to bring US$15 centre fee per candidate despite us being formal learners at the school.
The money, the headmaster said is for examination stationery.
We have already paid the amount as you were not allowed to register without paying that amount.
They wanted hard cash, there was no option of local currency,” said a learner at Masunda Secondary School in Chivi, Masvingo.
A parent also complained that apart from centre fees which they had not planned for, the headmasters were changing the Zimsec stipulated due dates for examination fees payment.
“We were shocked when our children came saying there was US$15 centre fee or stationery fee that was required.
The amount was too high and we felt like headmasters had found a way of milking poor parents.
Last year we never heard of such but this year life was made difficult to most parents with children sitting for examinations,” complained one parent.
Another parent said they were asked to pay US$20 per candidate as centre fee at Jenya Secondary, also in Chivi.
A retired headmaster said schools can not hide behind the purchase of science material for examinations because Zimsec had not yet sent the material required.
“In the event that such an amount couldn’t be taken off the fees, heads can only know the amount after Zimsec has sent the list of equipment to be used.
And in most cases, the budget should be on the decrease because certain equipment is not perishable e.g test tubes, digital scales and other containers and some of the schools are not doing such subjects,” he said.
Zimsec opened the public examination registration window on Friday with the fees in US dollar terms set at US$10 per subject for Grade 7, while it is US$11 per subject for O-level and A-level is at US$22 per subject.
The examination body announced that schools must use an exchange rate of $454,7 to US$1 when collecting the fees. Registration will close on Friday.
The fees are subsidised by Government for learners in public schools, local authority schools and non-for-profit mission schools by 55 percent, while those at private schools are to pay full amounts. Zimsec also announced that schools will not incur bank charges when they remit examination fees to the examinations body. The examination body will pay the charges.
