The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) has promised to take telecommunications giant, TelOne’s Centre for Learning to court following its announcement of a 200% fee hike.
The union claims the latest fee adjustment could leave many out of school.
TelOne Centre is now demanding ZW$186 000 or US$600, an exchange rate ZINASU spokesperson, Allan Chipoyi, said is illegal.
Foreign students will now have to pay ZW$465 000 or US$1 500. Chipoyi told NewZimbabwe.com:
Our standing point is very clear, we are by no means tolerating that and whatever the rate they are using is not the official interbank rate, so by that they are violating the Exchange Rate Control Act.
By charging such exorbitant fees, they are trying to encompass a few students and leave out the other lot who do not have enough resources to sponsor their education.
We are going to demonstrate against this and take legal course. We are going to challenge them in court because education is a fundamental right.
To an ordinary student, this simply means they are no longer going to attend school.
The college cited “increasing prices for goods and services” as the reason behind its hike, highlighting all students who were yet to pay fees now had to pay based on the new structure.