HARARE – Parents at Rusununguko High School near Goromonzi are up in arms with the Zanu PF owned learning institution which has demanded up to US$120 per child as top up fees without consulting and agreeing with them.

According to a notice sent to parents via a WhatsApp group by the CEO Maone Veremu, the school was demanding US$30 top-up from learners whose entire termly fees of US$605 were initially paid in US dollars and US$120 top-up from those who had settled for the alternative option of depositing US$400 and the US$205 remainder in ZiG equivalent at interbank rate.

The decision to demand top-up, according to Vheremu, was influenced by the need to plug the deficit created by the sharp decline in the value of ZiG recently.

Vheremu said the supplementary budget was targeting costs of running the school’s diesel generator which he claimed was guzzling 140 litres a day as it was running from 2AM to 8.30PM everyday.

He said the generator had become the main source of energy at the school owing to prolonged power outages being experienced in the country.

“This makes the budget for fuel totally inadequate,” said Vheremu, adding that the unpopular decision was approved by both the DSC and school authorities.

Vheremu said “the circumstances that led to this development are beyond our control”.

Parents were expected to have paid the top up by Saturday 26 October 2024.

It emerged the school went against parents’ recommendations to settle for a solar system instead of the generator which they argued was more costly to run.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an angry parent cried blackmail by “greedy” school authorities he accused of attempts to harvest cheap cash from an enrolment of over a thousand learners.

The parent said it was even a bigger scam for those with Form 4 kids who are meant to leave the school premises after exams mid-November and were still expected to be at par with the rest in terms of top-up fees.

Another parent accused the authorities of running the school like their own private enterprise where decisions are made at a passing whim and are never presented to the education ministry for approval.

“They just set and unilaterally decided that they want money and thought they were going to get that money from us.

“To us, that is a nonstarter,” said the parent.

“When we paid our fees, any arrangement that was made, be it pure USD, half USD and ZiG whatever, we said everyone paid the same fees.

“There is no need to wake up tomorrow and start saying just because you paid pure USD and the other one split, top-up amounts are different.”

Parents felt there should have been a fully constituted meeting with all stakeholders involved where figures are suggested and tested before being forwarded to the ministry to approve.

Added the parent, “As parents, generally all the Forms, from Form One to upper 6, we are saying we do not want to pay anything, because they initially did their budget, they projected their costs; why come back today and say the money is not enough.”

Vheremu did not respond to questions sent to him via his mobile phone by ZimLive.

However, in a latter development, the school was forced to charge a uniform US$30 on all learners.

“The responsible authority ZimFep has approved the fee top up of US$30 per learner to enable the school to complete the term.

“The plight of the parents has been considered at the same time not compromising the welfare of the learners,” wrote ZimFep director of communication in correspondence seen by ZimLive.

While relieved by the new development, another parent said he still felt the school was not sincere in its initial claims US$120 was needed as top-up only to slash it to just US$30 at the stroke of a pen without explanation.

“Realistically, if their mathematics was on point and everything was supported, why would you reduce from US$120 to US$30.

“Yes, it is an advantage to us but a lot is happening behind the scenes,” she said.

Rusununguko High School in Melfort outside Harare is operated by the Zimbabwe Foundation for Education with Production (ZimFep), an education wing under Zanu PF.

The rest of the nearly half dozen schools under ZimFep have not demanded any top-up, something that has riled parents at Rusunnguko.