Dr Gono help us to educate our nation

DEAR DR. GONO — Local tuition fees for Zimbabweans are not fixed. They fluctuate and are subject to change any time because of the hyperinflationary environment prevailing in Zimbabwe. That is why Ministry of Education issue invoices when invoicing requests for fees.

Only tuition fees for international students are fixed because they pay in Forex but it's a different case if a student is a citizen of Zimbabwe by birth, even if their fees are paid regularly from outside Zimbabwe.

Last semester I paid ZW$10 million for my student and this semester we are talking of ZW$billions.  On the first day of class next term, the fees should be paid up by the first week of the school holidays.  It is extremely frustrating to have to budget each term for fluctuating figures.

Could you not immediately please sit down with the Ministry of Education and seriously review this situation so that any student's fees which are in future paid in Forex, by in the Diaspora?

The fees are paid to Western Union and other money transfer agencies, are received in Forex directly by the Ministry of Education or schools/institutes and wherever education is concerned, and that for this reason, the Forex reason, their fees will in future be guaranteed at a fixed rate for the year.

Every time I send home £50 with Western Union I have to pay another £12 fee, which means that over a year I am being penalised because I am sponsoring a student from overseas I will be forced to pay almost another £100+/- over and above the fees merely in money transfer charges—and all because myself and other sponsors in the Diaspora want to contribute to educating a child in Zimbabwe!

If through such a scheme the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture (i.e. Government) would be receiving Forex into their account. It would be unfair therefore, to charge the sponsors the same rate as you make foreigners pay. It is normal here in the UK for foreigners to pay a higher rate than locals.

One of my concerns is that once the Forex money transfer arrives in Zimbabwe the students have to go and collect it in Z$ from wherever it has been delivered, and then travel, through calculating thieves, back to the education facility, to pay the money in Zimbabwean dollars to the Registrar of the education facility which they attend for the term/semester.  Last week my student was handed US$90 because WU had no local currency in Zimbabwean dollars and my student had to traipse town looking for someone to change this US dollar into Zimbabwean dollars which is the only currency the education facility would accept! I was shocked at this turn in events.

On the other hand, this also means that the Registrar is inundated with students arriving in the education facility office with fistfuls of Zimbabwean dollars which are obviously then stashed in the office safe. These vast fees must ultimately be taken to the bank by the Registrar. This is a robbery waiting to happen, and the Registrar could even be killed in the fracas. Being a Registrar is, therefore, an extremely dangerous job.

You may even wish to consider inserting a clause in such a proposed new Education Bill stating that, in order to guarantee this Forex is received by the Ministry of Education, and so that the student is secure in the knowledge that his/her  have been paid and he/she can definitely begin in

What a relief then for the Registrar and the students who can all go home and enjoy the holidays knowing that everything is in place, and that the first couple of days of next term will not be wasted in queues of tears?

Surely this guaranteed Forex paid in advance would be of value to the Ministry of Education, and alleviate the stress of students fretting over whether the family overseas have sent the fees in time? When you earn £6/hour, it is a lot of money.

Why do we have to go this antiquated and inefficient route? There has to be a more sophisticated and efficient manner in which to pay Zimbabwe education facilities for Zimbabwean students from abroad?

This will not only benefit Government coffers, but in turn enable us in the Diaspora to work on a fixed budget whilst guaranteeing we pay the Forex paid direct to the Ministry of Education instead of money transfer houses benefitting on every transaction we send to Zimbabwe.

Surely Government could make immediate plans to assist us in this as they do not provide free education as they do in the UK - even though we were promised free education when Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.