The Chronicle
The third and final school term of this year starts today.
It is perhaps the busiest of the year as pupils in Grade 7, Forms 4 and 6 sit their public examinations whose results take them to the next level. They, their parents and teachers should be working harder to ensure that they will be fully prepared when the exit tests begin in the next few weeks.
However, preparing for the term has been difficult for many parents as most schools are demanding portions of the fees to be paid exclusively in foreign currency. Not many institutions were doing so so before this term.
What they are now doing is taking advantage of a recent Government pronouncement that schools could demand foreign currency as fees with those who are unable to pay in that currency free to pay the Zimbabwe dollar equivalent using the auction or interbank rate.
Many schools want parents and guardians to pay one portion, yes in local currency, but another strictly in hard currency with no option for the Zimbabwe dollar equivalent using the official exchange rate.
We cite a parent elsewhere today saying Dete High School in Matabeleland North has set a rate that is well above the black market one for those who choose to pay the forex portion in the national currency.
Said the parent with a child at the school:
“The school is demanding half of the fees in forex. If you want to pay in local currency, their rate is even higher than the illegal parallel market rate. It even becomes better if you buy the forex from money changers and pay. This is just daylight robbery.”
Said another parent with a child at a different school:
“This time things have been difficult. We do not have money especially with schools demanding foreign currency which we are currently not earning. They sent us newsletters telling us half of the fees should be strictly in foreign currency. The most painful thing is that we do not even earn the foreign currency that schools are asking for.”
We condemn Dete and other schools for disregarding a clear Government directive. Not everyone has access to the greenback, the rand and so on. Most workers in the country earn local currency salaries thus would struggle to raise enough of it to buy foreign currency on the illegal market for them to then be able to pay school fees for their children.
Therefore, we are sure corrective action will be quickly taken, not only in relation to Dete High School but also others behaving in the same manner.
Such action is very important because the Government has already led the way by ordering all its arms to accept local currency payments only as part of its measures to promote its use, not the US$, the rand and so on.
Having condemned Dete High School and its ilk, we regret that some products and services cannot be paid for using the Zimbabwe dollar, key among them petrol and diesel. This presents difficulties for everyone who does not earn foreign currency.
This, somewhat, tampers our condemnation of schools that are behaving contrary to the rules by forcing all parents and guardians to pay fees in forex.
Nevertheless, our hope lies in the measures that the Government has been implementing in recent months to rein in inflation, promote the use of the Zimbabwe dollar and reduce demand for other currencies.
Gold coins are doing very well only two months after their introduction. Smaller denominations of the coins that are on the way should hasten that positive impact. This taken together with other initiatives will not only further curtail inflation but also eliminate this big yet exclusionary appetite for foreign currency.
Article Source: The Chronicle