Zim school to fight closure

2004-05-05 18:04

Harare - A top school in Zimbabwe was planning court action as the majority of private schools remained closed on Wednesday after the government ordered them to shut down for hiking tuition fees without its permission.

"The majority of schools are still closed," an official with the Association of Independent Trust Schools, which represents the country's 46 private schools, said.

Around 30 000 children enrolled at private schools on Tuesday either found their schools closed by order of the government, or were turned away by police on what was supposed to be the first day of the mid-year term.

The state accused the schools of contravening the country's laws by hiking school fees without the authority of the government, which only allows an increase of 10% a year.

The schools, which the government describes as elitist, are attended mainly by children of the country's middle classes, but also by the children of government and ruling party officials.

The teachers and parents of one prominent primary school, Hartmann House, are due in court on Thursday to try to nullify the government's "unlawful" closure of their school.

According to court papers, the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) is seeking a High Court order for the school to be reopened and the government's directive to be declared "null and void".

Part of the application argues that Education Minister Aeneas Chigwedere's use of police to close the school was illegal.

"The closure of the school is unlawful," reads part of the papers.

The official with the independent schools trust could not say if other schools were considering legal action, but acknowledged "considerable activity on several fronts" aimed at reopening the schools.

The state-run Herald newspaper reported that some schools affected by the forced closures were slashing their fees to comply with government regulations.

As a result the schools will open later this week or early next week, the paper said.

Private schools have cited escalating costs, mainly a result of inflation currently estimated at more than 580%, as the reason for increasing fees.

However, Chigwedere has condemned the fee hikes as "racist".

"They (the schools) throw Africans out simply by hiking fees," he claimed earlier this week.

- AFP