The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education says teachers who demand payment for extra lessons are practicing outright corruption as they are abusing public office, warning that offenders risk both disciplinary action and criminal prosecution.
The education ministry also maintains that public schools are not allowed to force parents to buy uniforms as that violates the parent’s free will of choice.
These remarks were made by the ministry’s Director of Communications and Advocacy, Taungana Ndoro, as he outlined the government’s reporting and complaints-handling mechanisms amid growing concerns from parents about corruption in schools, involving not only teachers but also headmasters and School Development Committees (SDCs).
Ndoro said teachers who charge learners for extra lessons are exploiting the authority of their public positions, despite already receiving salaries from the government.
“This is corruption in public office. The office of a teacher is the classroom. If that teacher is in that classroom and uses the power and authority within him or her to abuse that platform, to say, ‘parent, give me money so that I can teach your child,’ a job which you are already being paid for by government, then you are corrupt and you are supposed to be put to task,” he said in a recent meeting in Bulawayo.
His comments come against a backdrop of persistent complaints from parents who say they are afraid to raise concerns during school meetings fearing their children may be victimised by teachers or school authorities.
Parents have spoken out how various schools in Bulawayo and surrounding districts charge extra lessons and how these have increasingly become informal “pay-to-learn” schemes, with some teachers allegedly threatening to neglect learners who do not pay.
Ndoro said parents who suspect wrongdoing must follow established reporting channels, starting at the lowest level.
“The reporting mechanism or complaints handling in the ministry, if you are a parent and feel something is amiss at the school, the first port of call, depending on the magnitude, is the class teacher, that is if it has to do with your child,” he said.
Using extra lessons as an example, Ndoro said parents have a right to question why they are being charged.
“On extra lessons, for instance, the parent may ask why they have to pay US$20 or US$10 a month or a week,” he said.
“You ask the teacher, and the teacher has to respond to you, and that response becomes the basis for further complaints.”
Ndoro dismissed justifications often given by teachers who argue that extra lessons are necessary to help struggling learners and to supplement low salaries.
“If the teacher says, ‘I’m not earning enough and I’m trying to supplement,’ that is corruption. “It’s just like an immigration officer who stamps your passport and asks for US$50,” he said.
“Or a ZIMRA officer who asks for something after discovering goods that have not paid duty. They are abusing public office. It’s the same with teachers.”
Ndoro warned that teachers found engaging in such practices could face charges under public service regulations and criminal law.
“It’s a case, for which you can face two offenses. One, through the public service regulations and two, through the criminal law and codification acts. You go to court and can end up behind bars just for asking US$10 from every child, trying to enrich yourself,” Ndoro said.
“If you are that smart, why don’t you leave that classroom and form your own school?”
Ndoro said unresolved issues should be escalated to the head of the school, whom he described as the “CEO” of each institution.
“The head represents the permanent secretary, the minister, and in some cases even the President,” he said.
“When something happens at a school, we go straight to the head and ask, ‘What happened, because accountability starts there.”
However, Ndoro acknowledged systemic weaknesses, noting some headmasters and district officials colluded in corrupt practices, undermining trust in reporting structures.
“We have challenges where some district school inspectors work hand-in-hand in cahoots with some heads of schools,” he said.
“You may find a head giving crates of eggs, chickens or whatever every week to the district school inspectors who then cannot investigate.”
The ministry spokesperson said parents should then escalate complaints to provincial offices, which he described as more independent and if that failed, ultimately to head office.
“It’s very unlikely that the province would be corrupted because for instance in Matabeleland South, the provincial office is in Gwanda. When you send someone from Gwanda to Mangwe, there may not be any linkages,” he said.
“If that fails, because it does fail at times, that’s when you come to the head office. The permanent secretary, normally, is the final decision maker in those cases. Beyond that, you take us to court. These are the reporting structures until you are satisfied that your complaint has been handled.”
Beyond extra lessons, Ndoro also addressed complaints about schools forcing parents to buy uniforms from the institution as a condition for enrolment, describing the practice as illegal.
“There was talk of schools saying for Form One or Lower Six, purchase uniforms to be guaranteed a place,” he said, citing Thekwane High School as a case currently under investigation.
“The minister announced it on television: no school is allowed to force parents to buy uniforms at that school,” Ndoro said.
He said parents are free to buy uniforms from any supplier as long as colour codes are adhered to.
“The moment a school starts commercial ventures, whether uniforms, chickens, tomatoes, it announces itself as being in competition with the market,” he said.
“But competition does not mean monopoly, you cannot force parents.”
Ndoro said schools that compel parents to buy uniforms or stationery from them are acting unlawfully.
“If a blazer is US$35 in the market and US$45 at school, parents will go to the market,” he said. “You don’t need to force them and if it’s vice versa, parents will buy at the school.”
He urged communities to report such cases through official channels, “so that parents do not suffer in silence.”
Ndoro also clarified that while the ministry’s uniform policy primarily applies to public schools, private schools operate under contractual arrangements.
“When you send your child to a non-government school, you have made your choice to say that you want education that is provided outside the public system. This is sort of like a private arrangement in which you get into a contractual agreement with the schools and you sign various contracts,” he said.
“If you don’t read the fine print of that contract, there’s not much we can do when you come to us as the ministry. If you breach that contract, they will take you to court outside of us because you’ve made the contract in a private civil arrangement.”
However, Ndoro maintained that private schools are still subject to ministry oversight in areas such as fee approvals and travel clearances.
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