Zimbabwe: Student Teachers Plead With Govt Over Outstanding Fees

Student teachers who have just completed teaching practice have appealed to government to issue a directive barring their respective institutions from sending them away over non-payment of fees.

Speaking to NewZimbabwe.com Sunday, Council of Student Teachers (COST) president, Walter Muzamani criticised teacher institutions for demanding exorbitant fees.

"We are facing serious problems with teacher training institutions over demands for outstanding fees covering the period of teaching practice. Most trainee teachers could not pay up as they were adversely affected by the Covid-19 lockdowns.

"Apart from that, the trainee teachers were receiving a paltry US$1.50 as their monthly allowances during the period but the institutions have become so inconsiderate to the extent of turning away students and even ordering them to defer their studies," he said.

The student teacher leader said Belvedere Technical Teachers College and Morgan Zintec College are among the institutions that have been tough on trainees.

He said on average, students were owing around $29 000 for the period.

He bemoaned that most of the students did not receive increments from the government despite their teaching practice tenure being extended into 2021 to compensate for lost time.

"As COST, we are saying that while these institutions have an obligation to stick to their policies, they must also have empathy for our situation because they are our fathers whom we look up to.

"If they fail to consider the hardships we went through due to Covid-19 and poor allowances to the extent of forcing us to drop out of our studies, who do we turn to.

"We appeal to the government to urgently intervene and rein in these greedy leaders at the institutions," he said.

Muzamani suggested a number of ways such as garnishing students' accounts once they got employed or even allowing them to work and compensate for the owed fees.

This article originally appeared on New Zimbabwe

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