The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has reiterated that it is illegal for schools and teachers to demand incentives from parents and guardians in order to teach their children.
This follows reports suggesting that teachers in many schools across the country are demanding additional fees per child a month to offer extra lessons.
Director of communication and advocacy in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Taungana Ndoro on Thursday said parents should not pay the incentives demanded by teachers. Said Ndoro:
Incentives were outlawed a long time ago. No school should charge parents additional funds over and above what has been authorised by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education as agreed upon by the Parental Assembly.
Collection of such fees is illegal and teaching should be optimum in schools for all learners to derive benefit from the time they are in school with their teachers, supplemented by homework that is given them.
Teachers are already on a salary and therefore, parents should not give them incentives whenever they are asked to. Parents don’t take care of teachers and thus they must not pay them.
Parents should work together with us because as much as we are working on stopping this, some are going behind our backs and giving incentives still.
Some teachers are reportedly asking parents and guardians to pay a fee of US$10 for their children in Grade 7 to be able to afford data and conduct lessons even during the weekend.