Roosevelt Girls High bars kids from writing end o...

Roosevelt Girls High bars kids from writing end of year exams

**The acces key to examination rooms being granted by school head**

Rutendo Mazhindu

ZimNow Reporter

Parents are disgruntled after Roosevelt Girls High School reportedly revoked agreed upon payment plans at the last minute, barring students with outstanding fees from writing exams.

In interviews with ZimNow, some affected parents- who all requested to not be named as they fear that their daughters may be victimized by the school- shared their frustrations alleging the school informed them of the policy change a day before the exam started.

“We had payment plans but were surprised to be just told they are now null and void the day before exams. My daughter could not write exams although l only owes part payment plan that the school agreed to’’ said one parent.

“We are working so hard to pay these fees and have stuck to the payment plans we signed only to have the agreement tossed out just like that,” fumed another a parent.

The government is on record as saying that it is illegal to deny children the right to education over unpaid fees and that the school administration must resort to legal recourse to compel parents to pay debts.

https://zimbabwenow.co.zw/articles/301/fees-struggle-is-real-as-institutions-close-kids-out

Another affected parent said her daughter remained barred even after payment of the full fees.

“We paid the outstanding balance on Friday and my daughter had her receipts showing full payments. But to my surprise, she was still barred from writing exams on Monday. The teachers said she must have an exam pass,” said the parent.

According to the parent, the exam pass is being issued by the head who is not available at all times during working hours.

The parents said while they appreciate that the school must enforce payment of fees, the head has refused to address what redress, if any will be taken for learners are now fully paid up but have already missed several exams.

The situation at the school is especially concerning for parents with students in Form 2.

“For Form 2s who will be screened for form 3 using exam results, it means affected kids have failed without even being given a chance,” said a parent with a daughter in Form 2 who missed all exams written last week.

Efforts to get comments from the school were unsuccessful as enquiries on the landline were repeatedly cut off mid-sentence.

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education spokesperson Taungana Ndoro referred this reporter to Deputy Director Patrick Zumbo who repeatedly said he was in meetings over a period of several hours.