The Higher Education Examination Council (HEXCO) has reportedly failed to pay more than 300 lecturers who have been marking examination papers at Harare Polytechnic College since the marking exercise began on July 11, 2024.
The affected lecturers are from various polytechnic institutions, vocational training colleges, and independent colleges across the country.
Some of the lecturers who spoke to NewsDay claim to have sacrificed their limited personal resources to travel to Harare and participate in the marking exercise. Said one lecturer:
We were supposed to receive advance payment from HEXCO to cater for our travel and subsistence.
The lecturers said they had not been provided formal contracts outlining the terms of their engagement to mark the examination scripts.
They also claimed that the accommodation arranged for them at Harare Polytechnic consisted of substandard hostels that lacked basic amenities such as running water. Said another lecturer:
When we got here, we were allocated a bucket to fetch water at the college for bathing and flushing in the toilets.
We have some elderly lecturers and others who are finding it difficult to ferry water upstairs at the hostels.
Another lecturer said:
Other lecturers who are almost finishing their marking allocations are worried about how they are going to find their way back home without payment.
In the past, HEXCO has dropped lecturers for speaking out against non-payment and ill-treatment.
More: Pindula News