The Zambian Government has announced that it has reduced all fees paid in public and grant aided schools with effect from next term
General Education Minister David Mabumba told Parliament that his Ministry has directed that pupils in Grades 8 to 12 should pay K150 user fees in schools in remote areas while K200 user fees should be paid by pupils in other schools per term.
For boarding schools, the Ministry has directed that pupils should pay an amount not exceeding K1, 000 per term as boarding fees.
Mr Mabumba said schools charging less than K1, 000 per term are at liberty to maintain their current fees.
He said pupils whose parents are engaged in subsistence farming can be allowed to pay fees in kind, e.g. a bag of maize or beans, goats, rice etc. which the school can translate into cash.
He said the revised school fees come into effect in the second term of 2019.
“With this guidance no additional charges should be demanded from learners either in cash (administration fee, affiliation fee, registration fee, practical fees, computer fees, learning material fees etc.) or in kind (cement, realm of paper, cobra, paint, slasher, hoe, mattress etc)”
He said, “While parents are partners in education provision through cost sharing, the Ministry has continued to minimize the cost of education on the part of the parents and guardians towards the education of their children.”
Mr Mabumba said the decision has made in order to ensure that as many children as possible access education services.
He said the Ministry has the responsibility to regulate the fees and in January, 2016 a circular on GCE and User Fees in Grant Aided and Public Schools which guided on the scale of fees to be charged was given.
“However, despite the guidance given, schools have continued to charge high fees and numerous complaints from the public and other stakeholders have been received over high school fees. My Ministry has not been impressed with this scenario over school fees,” he said.
On project fees, Mr Mabumba said School Head teachers, Parents Teachers Committees and School Boards that may have a compelling need to undertake a project at school and need to charge project fees should request for permission to do so from the Permanent Secretary through their District Education Board Secretaries and Provincial Education Officers.
He said a good and clear justification supported with documentary evidence should support the application as earlier guided.
“In order to mitigate financial constraints or difficulties in raising the approved fees which some Parents or Guardian may experience, school authorities should allow such pupils to pay their user fees in installments,” he said.
Mr Mabumba has since appealed to Aided Schools to be considerate when fixing school fees for their learners.
“The Ministry of General Education would appreciate a situation where fees charged by Aided Schools are comparable to the ones approved in Public Schools. It is hoped that this statement will help address the disparities in the school fees that schools have been charging,” he said.
He said the Ministry of General Education will not take kindly to any school Head teacher who will not adhere these directives.
Will the govt subsidise with regards operational costs especially for boarding schools?
Good luck to the students
Here the thing – 20 years ago a degree mean something of substance and including a Masters
Nowadays these are NOTHING
Unless you have a PhD you are NOTHING of substance
I had 29 points and accepted at UNZa natural sciences and refused to go because the standards are low nd I wouldn’t necessarily want to be taught by a black person.
I remember when I was in grade 5, because i was this much intelligent I was asked to go to grade 6 where I for 689 which was the highest at the time in the coperbelt
I got 29 points in grade 12 and easily passed to go to grade 10 (388 points) without leakage
I have gone on to finish my PhD
Thanks
BB2014,2016
And as usual this is vey bad news for UPND online Cadres like Spaka and Jay Jay…..they only comment on bad news…..doom and gloom…..characteristics of devil worshipers
Mushota you are ancient material
May be in the UK, where I live a PHD is nothing. There are to many and technology is slowly taking over their jobs. The future is blue collar.
SOS school was this year taken over by government who went ahead to employ a totally new administration from Head teachers both Primary and secondary school and kindergarten to teachers, however in spite of the school having changed from Private to Government the OLD PTA has held on to their positions illegally without allowing the new dispensation to usher in a new PTA reflective of the change from Private School to Government School.
The impostor PTA has continued to have a private school mentality and has refused to align the school fees to what is pertaining in government schools and have insisted that those parents who want government aligned school fees should take their children elsewhere.
As concerned parents we want you to assist in bringing this situation to light so that…
Do not let the quality of education at the SOS schools be tainted by changing the PTA. A new PTA will Usher in nonsense trust me. Just find a way to talk to the PTA and keep costs down.
that the relevant authorities our their can see this for what it is.
In Kindergarten parents have to part away with the following fees per term.
begginners – K2,600.00
Middle – K2,700.00
Reception – K 2,700.00
Old Entrants – K2,250.00
Term 2 & 3 2018 K 1,900.00
Primary from Grade 1 – 7 Per Term K1,650.00
Secondary Grade 8 – 9 per term K 2,250.00
Secondary Grade 10 – 12 Per term K 3,350.00
This is a government School and it is not a boarding school but day school
@Samlindo: Since GRZ is paying the teachers, where does that huge sum of money go? Does it go in the PTA members pockets or what? Samlindo please enlighten us on how SOS uses the money which pupils pay.
He should have also mentoned something to do with increase in funding not slashing whiout alternative!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, its a good move, we cannot critised everything PF is doing…………..
It has nothing to do with education but it has everything to do with 2021. We know your tactics don’t think that we have forgotten. You’re still going in 2021.
@Eastern Condurs, Just blog as Southern Condurs. Do not be shy. We already know comments that come from the people from across the fence. Always negative and bitter.
Sonta epowabomba yatampa……….
This is absurd and populist. The government does not give grants to schools. PTAs employ guards, cooks, general cleaners, secretaries and even some teachers through patent contributions. We contribute tissue paper, realms of paper and even cobra. School fees pay for water bills and electricity. The question is will schools afford this. Children in boarding schools will be eating beans from term one to term 3. Government must not just make popular pronouncements but fund schools 100%. Make free education real.
Matumbo, simple mathematics will show that if you multiply 200 by 40 pupils in one class gives 8000 and multiply this by the number of classes e.g. 12 gives 96000 to be utilized in a term which is three months. Schools can operate on such funds without additional government grants
Goodmove by government,looking forward to actual implementation.alternative funding shud be provided by government then.
We thank the government for this development,atleast our kids will now go to school.
8.1 at least your kids will go to poor schools with poor standards.
Comment:what about GCE
What do you mean ?
It’s a no brainer. The services provided were not consummate with the cost.
In addition, now, parents have control to rationalise by spending on affordable instalments buying food, sports gear and learning materials as needed, rather than the shotgun demands of pay or your kid gets kicked out.
Head teachers have reaped benefits from user fees charged on poor pupils. Though in boarding schools the menu will be compromised and will see spates of riots over food quality and quantity.The govt must be flexible to give schools some allowance to charge slightly over the suggested amount of one thousand kwacha in order for them to carry out some repairs to the infrastructure.
Zambia has enough money and resources to assure every child born in this country Quality Free Education from Pre-school to University!
The trouble we have is Leaders and Technocrats with the “Scarcity and the What’s in It for me Mentality!” Economics as not about “Economizing resources!” as is popularly taught that resources are scarce! Now that is according to the Colonialist Oppressor’s Curriculum handed down to the oppressed! Economics is Multiplication of resources, Maximizing the minimum! This means avoiding wasteful use of resources through sitting allowances when you are actually paid for that job! We can’t afford free education because of too many white collar thieves! Muchinje! We are retiring PF and UPND in 2021!
@Wrong Education:
Man you are contradicting your self. Avoiding wasteful use of resources is same as economizing minimum resources. Please avoid trashing fields in which you are not trained. Economics is all about rational allocation of scarce resources in order to achieve maximum profit or development of the economy. Learn to respect disciplines in which you arr NOT AN EXPERT.
The standards of schools will go down like in the UNIP government. Right now government secondary schools really look good and there is not much difference when you compare with private schools.
Thinking people will forget about their unpaid salaries, PFoools ubupuba is too much in this ka party of thieves and kaponya`s
Education upto Secondary School should be free in Zambia the same way it is in the UK.
Some thing positive from PF….
Can you how ever issue more clear cut and standardised procedures of payments and grivience escalation….
Good luck to those students
Twansata mwane!!
Well done mighty PF!!Please keep it up and let Kalusa(HH) rot in opposition forever!!!
They should pay GRZ workers, what’s the use in reducing school fees while not paying parents their wages …..??
We appreciate if it z granted otherwise in rural and Urban area we suffer alot.
This will soon b over ruled by the more realistic PTA and so called mgt boards
What is the budget of a normal functioning school?
Coming up with a blanket figure for all the schools rural or urban ought to take into considerations the standards of education the government offers to its people.
The idea of lower payments in rural are should be a thing of the past. It is the poor who need more exposure as Horace Mann says: “Education, beyond all other divides of human origin, is a great equalizer of conditions of men—the balance wheel of the social machinery.
The term ‘User Fees’ does not apply to schooling. It is appropriate for the health sector where it is rare for a patient to continue being ill for 12 years and paying for the service. Learners use their own minds to learn; they do not get prescriptions to get better.
Mushota, do you really have a doctorate? If so, it is fake.
Comment: what about colleges and universities, is the fee being reduce
It’s time to remove your children from govt schools. Pf dullards have decided to drive learning conditions to pathetic levels for your children. You can rest be assured that this ignorant govt has not though through the implications of their decision. Since pf, the most broke and most ignorant govt, wont substitute the lost school income with increased funding to the schools you should now expect bad food, broken windows, broken desks and chairs, unkept environment, smelly blocked toilets in schools. Viva pf! Viva! Viva ignorants! Viva!
Mukuba Secondary School is already chasing pupils from writing end of term one exams
no matter wat they do now come “2021”,who ever takes over will have to continue with the same move I believe…its a gud move though…
Comment:hhnnnnm
amazing gryt move.
PF Govt is the Govt with a lot of contribution to this nation for the next generation, thanks so much to the Govt…