SCHOOLS will open for the first term of this year on Tuesday next week, and all involved are finalising preparations.
The kids, who obviously had fun over the festive season, cannot believe that the good time is over, and they will now be back to earlier mornings, uniforms, homework and all that.
School authorities are getting ready to welcome the pupils back.
For parents and guardians, the beginning of the first term of the year is probably their toughest, as it comes a few days after the festive season and the spending pressure that accompanies it. It is even tougher for those who have kids starting Grade One or Form One.
The Government is readying itself as well as we report elsewhere in this edition.
We are particularly happy with the stern reminder that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education issued in terms of modalities for payment of school fees and procurement of uniforms.
Bearing in mind that some institutions, especially privately-owned ones, almost always demand school fees payments in US dollars, rejecting the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), authorities made it clear that we are still operating in a multi-currency environment, not a dollarised one.
“The Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) and all currencies within the multi-currency system remain legal tender for school fee payments. Schools are prohibited from demanding fees exclusively in United States dollars. Any such practice is illegal and will attract severe disciplinary action,” the ministry said.
It added:
“The Ministry, in conjunction with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, reaffirms the directive of 12 March 2025. All fee conversions must be pegged strictly to the official interbank exchange rate. Schools are not permitted to unilaterally set or use inflated exchange rates for fee calculations. Vigorous monitoring and enforcement will be undertaken in collaboration with financial regulatory authorities.”
There is nothing new in this, but the ministry had to be clear well in advance, as we tend to always have some school administrators who cherry-pick a currency they want to transact in while rejecting others, yet national law recognises other currencies that can be legitimately used in transactions.
By demanding payment of fees exclusively in dollars, schools would not only be wilfully breaking the law, but they would also be making life difficult for a good number of parents and guardians. Not everyone is paid in dollars; some are paid exclusively in the ZiG. Where will the latter get the dollars to pay school fees?
We are firmly with the Government in asserting that the multi-currency system remains in place and that transactions can be concluded in the ZiG at the official rate, not the street rate.
We implore parents and guardians to report to the ministry or police any schools that arrogate to themselves the authority to rewrite fiscal and monetary policies when the treasury and central bank are there to legally do that at appropriate times.-herald
