The association’s General Secretary, Matakanye Matakanya, says they have called on the Department of Basic Education to intervene because no-fee schools are becoming overcrowded.
“If the parents are no more paying, it means you can’t pay the teachers, the project that you have, you have to stop. But another solution could be then to take their children back to no fees schools and space becomes limited when they take away from those schools and to these schools and that is why we are saying some of the schools that are close must be opened, so that when parents take their children away from fee-paying schools then there is enough space in the schools.
“Most schools are even starting to battle to even get over 50% collection rate, which means that as schools are starting to battle to get money in for the 50% of parents, mind you, you still have in the schools those parents that have legitimate exemptions not to pay for various reasons. So, that 50% or whatever it is collection rate is not based on your 100% enrolment. And so the situation gets worse with people not being able to afford an education at schools under the current climate.
Because COVID-19 left many unemployed so they had no choice.