20 Jun 2019

Parents have been urged to be committed to paying development fee for the benefit of schools and pupils.

In an interview, Ministry of Basic Education public relations officer, Ms Lebogang Nyadza, said the development fee was an initiative agreed to by parents and the parents teachers associations to run school programmes.

Ms Nyadza said these were not implemented by policies, explaining that the main aim of the development fee was to raise funds to assist in developing schools in terms of infrastructure and support school activities such as prize giving, anniversary celebrations, victory celebrations and other events common in schools. 

She said these fees differed from school to school based on the agreements and proposals made by various PTAs in question including the social economic status of the area. 

She confirmed that in most schools, the fee was paid once for the whole duration of the primary and secondary school course, adding that development fee was managed by PTAs. 

However, she said the school development fee should be paid by all pupils, but it was not always the case. 

She said pupils were not punished or suspended for unpaid fees, adding that just like any other fee, if the pupil did not manage to pay the fee, the school would not bar students to attend classes nor school. 

She also stressed that completed students who would have not managed to pay the fee or school fees, the school arrange with their parents to commit to terms of payment. 

Although she confirmed that the Ministry has made it clear that children should collect their certificates and parents should engage at PTA meetings and suggest solutions or revision of such charges, noting that the intention was never to impact on children negatively. 

These fees should be small and manageable and impact positively on the school. If this was not the case then they needed revision. Ends