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By Marlvin Ngiza
A call has been made to the government to reintroduce student grants in order to make tertiary education affordable.
This follows a demonstration that happened at Telone Centre For Learning recently.
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) Spokesperson Lenon Mazuru said if grants are brought back and subsidies on education are introduced, tertiary education will be affordably accessible in this harsh economic situation.
“The government should reintroduce student grants and loans. Education should be subsidized and the budget for education should be increased to make the situation better.
“Incomes of citizens should double the tagged fees and the cost of living should be reduced so as to cater for the welfare of students and citizens at large,” said Mazuru
Mazuru further indicated that exorbitant prices being charged by tertiary institutions are perpetuating school dropouts and deferments.
He added that high fees in tertiary institutions have hampered education accessibility.
“Due to these high fees across tertiary institutions, education accessibility has been shrunk since some are dropping out or even deferring.
“The prevailing economic situation makes it hard for citizens to meet up with tagged fees since the incomes of many people are less than $US200, not mentioning other costs of living,” added Mazuru.
According to human rights lawyer Marufu Mandevere, all 9 students who got arrested were released without charge.
“They were cautioned and released without a charge,” said Mandevere.
This year alone, tertiary students demonstrated three times over fees hikes.
