Primary and Secondary Education Minister Torirai Moyo said all unregistered private schools would soon be closed because the government had no mechanisms to ensure quality and comprehensive education in those institutions.
Responding to journalists’ queries during a post-Cabinet press conference, Minister Moyo said all private schools must be registered or else they would face closure soon. Minister Moyo said he would soon present a paper before Cabinet that would see all unregistered schools closed.
“The government is planning to ensure that as many schools as possible are established because we are suffering from a deficit in terms of the number of schools. The latest information indicates that we have a shortage of approximately 2,800 schools.
“The shortage has led to the proliferation and proliferation of schools that we want to define as private schools,” Minister Moyo said.
“I must be very clear, the private schools we want must be registered with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. As for the schools that are spread in the densely populated suburbs, in most cases, they are illegal schools because they are not registered.
“They are operating illegally, in fact, we will come out with a paper that I will submit to the cabinet where we will ban those schools, maybe give them a grace period depending on what the cabinet will recommend. We will close all the illegal schools that are operating illegally.”
He said that all institutions providing education must meet established educational standards and that the ministry is unable to regulate an institution if it is not registered with it.
“As a ministry, we are supposed to ensure that there is quality, equitable and inclusive education. But in the so-called private school that we saw, someone will have a school in their backyard, and the learners are compressed or crammed into a very small room and the chances of spreading diseases are high because the condition affects the quality.
“Those are the schools we don’t want. We want private schools to be registered according to the ministry’s specifications where we can control the quality,” Minister Moyo said.
Earlier, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Genevan Musuer, said Minister Moyo and Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Kazembe Kazembe presented progress reports on progress achieved in the implementation of priority projects for the 100-day cycle of 2024 within their remit.
He said that the progress report includes the registration of 40 newly built and existing sub-schools in all governorates and is on track to be completed by the end of the session, while school infrastructure is being modernized, and administrative offices for classrooms, accommodation, water and sanitation are being rehabilitated and modernized. Sanitation and hygiene facilities in 11 schools were on track to be completed by the end of the session.
“The construction and conversion of 100 laboratories in schools in Manicaland, Matabeleland North, Harare Metropolitan, Masvingo and Mashonaland provinces is on track to be completed by the end of the session and the construction of four sustainable and affordable boarding facilities in Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland East provinces to reduce walking distances,” said Dr Musoer. For learners on their way to completion by the end of the course.
He said Minister Kazembe reported on projects under his purview which included the establishment of the Howard Mission Community Archive in Mashonaland Central Province which is 20 percent complete, and resources are currently being mobilized to decentralize e-passport services in Gokwe South, Midlands Province.
“The development story and collection exercise has been carried out in all departments for the renovation of the Namibia Community Museum in Hwange, Matabeleland North Province; 15 percent of the total work related to the online border management system has been completed,” Dr. Moswer said.
