Private schools association engages government on ...

Private schools association engages government on making quality education affordable for all

**President of the Association of Independent Colleges and Private Schools, Professor Washington Mahiya**

Zim Now Writer

Delivering quality education with no state subsidies or private grants drives the costs up making good private schools expensive, so there is need for authorities to meet private schools halfway to make education accessible for all.

This was revealed by the President of the Association of Independent Colleges and Private Schools, Professor Washington Mahiya.

He was speaking on the side-lines of a prize giving and Secondary School launch ceremony for Eagles College in Stoneridge, Waterfalls last Saturday.

“There is a general assumption that private colleges ask for an arm and a leg when it comes to tuition.

“But the true fact on the ground is that we are not beneficiaries of government subsidy as is the case with government, mission and council schools.

“We do everything on our own and this includes development, salaries for teachers and ancillary staff.

“This year, for instance, government introduced scripts fees for Science subjects and we are obliged to pay when our contemporaries are exempted from doing so.

“This is despite the fact that our students are from the same localities and communities and their bread-winner parents are from the same background", he said.

Professor Mahiya cited the US$2 500 private institutions are required to pay as Zimsec centre fees in circumstances where government schools pay much less.

Zimbabwe has a shortage of formal schools which has led to an increase in private schools as well as some unregistered illegal operations.

Professor Mahiya said his organisation is consulting with the relevant authorities to find ways of ensuring that all children can access quality education at affordable fees.

“We have since engaged Government through the Primary and Secondary Education Minister to look into these and other challenges that we face as a representative association and we seem to be treading a positive path,” Prof Mahiya said.

The association has a membership of 500 institutions administered through provincial and district structures across the country.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people from Stoneridge and surrounds gathered at Eagles College for the prize-giving ceremony that coincided with the official opening of the secondary school.

Eagles is the brainchild of Thusitse Kuta with the backing of her husband, Pardon.

Kuta in her address took the gathering on a journey that began with an ECD enrolment of just three kids to the present registered Zimsec examination centre with the junior and secondary school units.

The school is currently enrolling its first secondary school learners for term 1, 2024.