Suburban
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
HARARE residents have welcomed the order by the Government to close all illegal schools saying the owners of the schools should also be fined because these institutions are sprouting all over the city.
Government recently ordered the closure of illegal schools operating in Harare. In January this year, the Government launched a blitz on 435 schools operating illegally in the capital and issued a 30-day notice for these schools to regularise their operations. Only a few heeded the call.
In a statement, Harare Metropolitan Provincial Affairs and Devolution Secretary Mr Tafadzwa Muguti, said the full list of all the illegal schools will be published in the local newspapers and on social media.
“The Office of the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Harare Metropolitan Province has repeatedly encouraged private schools operating in the province to ensure that they fully comply with the Education Act,” he said.
“On the 17th of January 2022, the province, working with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, launched a blitz on 435 schools operating illegally in the province and issued a 30-day notice for these schools to regularise their operations. It is important to note that this deadline was further extended to the 31st of March 2022, by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.”
“To date only 287 schools have successfully applied for licenses and are awaiting to be processed by the provincial education directorate. It is regrettable that we continue to have some individuals who seek to undermine laws of the land, in particular, the Education Act. To this effect all schools operating illegally that failed to comply since the 17th of January 2022 shall now be shut down whilst the heads and directors, including board members of these schools, shall be arrested for contravening the Education Act.”
Harare residents welcomed the move and called for stiff penalties against the owners of the schools.
“These are schools that are being run by greedy individuals who compromise quality education for the sake of profit. Illegal schools are unregulated and are not inspected by the State so how do parents know if the barest minimum standards are being met at all. Who are they accountable to and do they follow the curriculum at all? Most of them are also notorious for employing unqualified and untrained teachers to cut costs. If this goes unchecked children’s development and education will suffer because of a few greedy individuals. They should be closed and the owners brought to book,” said a resident.
Residents said some of the schools were operating from sites which are not designated for such functions.
“Worse, most operate in residential areas which are ill fitting as school zones because of the roads and infrastructure and use residential homes were they covert bedrooms and pantries into classrooms. It’s not uncommon to find one teacher teaching a mixed class of children of different grades. There are no sporting facilities or extra curriculum activities. To discourage illegal schools from mushrooming everywhere Government should fine them heavily,” said Rutendo Madziwa.
Zimbabwe Combined Residents and Ratepayers Association (ZICORRA) provincial chairperson for Harare Mr Lawrence Kuleya commended the move but urged the authorities to deal with the root causes first.
He questioned how Harare ended up with all these illegal schools and who authorised them to operate in the first place.
“The operation of illegal schools is just a consequence of a much deeper root cause. When Harare suburbs were planned there were many open spaces reserved for public schools, clinics and other public amenities meant to benefit those suburbs. To date many of those spaces have disappeared via corruption or have been used for other purposes not meant for wat they had been reserved for. They have been used mainly for other developments, cluster houses, new suburbs and so on thereby increasing the population of Harare tremendously but without upgrading any infrastructure at all including important infrastructure like schools,” said Mr Kuleya.
He added: “Harare has a serious shortage of public schools which re affordable to the majority hence the sprouting of many private schools all over the place to try and fill in the void caused by this shortage of schools. In such a scenario many illegalities occurred hence this issue of illegal schools. They are termed illegal because most of them are sprouting up in areas where schools are not supposed to be, which raises questions about their legality and registration. But in dealing with this problem, they must have alternatives in place which won’t disrupt the learning of school children in these places.”
The ZICORRA official said the authorities must expand schools and put up more classrooms in existing Government and council schools, especially primary schools.
