Students shocked at unexpected ‘insensitive’ hike in tuition fees

Zimbabwean state universities have increased tuition fees by up to a massive 450%, in a development which students said was insensitive, considering the economic crisis in the country. The fee hike caught many in the sector off guard following assurances by the government in January 2021 that it would block increases until the threat of COVID-19 had subsided.

As the reality of the increases began to surface, the country’s largest student union, the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), said it was shocked that Professor Amon Murwira, the minister of higher and tertiary education, innovation, science and technology development, had approved the fees.

Last year, students were paying an average of ZWL$9,000 (about US$100), but the figures have gone up significantly, ranging from ZWL$20,000 (about US$200) to about ZWL$40,000 (US$400) per semester.

New fee structures

As educational institutions started to reopen from 15 March, they began notifying students of their new fee structures.

The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) pegged fees for undergraduate courses at ZWL$32,000, postgraduate at ZWL$34,000 and masters at ZWL$45,000.

A NUST journalism student said he was paying ZWL$8,300 but now he has to find ZWL$32,000.

At the Great Zimbabwe University (GZU), undergraduates will pay between ZWL$25,960 and ZWL$30,060, postgraduates from ZWL$34,445 to ZWL$39,655, masters students will fork out between ZWL$37,750 and ZWL$44,045, while doctoral students will pay from ZWL$45,000 up to ZWL$57,000.

No further increases

University World News reported in January that Murwira said that the purpose of the country’s universities was not to generate profits, and insisted that the current fee structures must be maintained, citing affordability, reasonability and sustainability as the three factors that determined fee hikes.

“The fee structure we are maintaining at universities is even lower than those being charged by most boarding schools in the country. But, we know that parents are hard-pressed and no fee hikes will be approved until such a time when the economic conditions have relatively improved,” he said at the time.

But, in the past few days, in an interview, Murwira said a consultation process was undertaken before the fees were hiked.

He said at universities there were committees that looked into the issue of fees and students were represented in those committees.

The minister said his ministry did not generate the fee increase schedules but approved what was sent to it by universities.

According to him, the increases were approved last month and the government’s policy was that there would not be any other increase during the course of the year, regardless of any variables or fluctuations in the country’s economy.

“We only approved the proposals. The proposals came from the universities,” he said.

Students oppose hike

But Tapiwanashe Chiriga, ZINASU’s secretary general, said the organisation would be approaching the minister this week for a meeting to protest the fee hikes.

He said the fee hike was unconstitutional.

“The fee increases were very insensitive. They do not speak to the economic problems we are facing. The decision will deprive students of the right to access education in violation of section 75 of the country’s constitution that talks of access to affordable education. The increases are unconstitutional,” said Chiriga.

He said he was disappointed that, earlier this year, the minister had promised them that there would not be any fee hikes.

Chiriga said one of the things they would ask the minister would be if his signature had been forged on the document approving the fees, as he had earlier said there would be no hike.

“We are shocked at the policy inconsistencies. This same government that is increasing these fees has not increased any salaries for civil servants who are our parents,” Chiriga added.

Abiona Mataranyika, the president of the University of Zimbabwe’s student representative council, said the fee hikes were unjustified and urged the government to reverse them.

Females affected more

Mataranyika warned of the possibility that university students, especially females, would be dropping out of university as the new fees being demanded were beyond the reach of many parents and guardians.

“We are in the middle of a pandemic that has affected all aspects of life. Some parents have lost their jobs, some companies were retrenching workers.

“There are some who work in backyard industries who were affected by the lockdown. Government must reconsider this and reverse the fee hike,” said Mataranyika.

She said female students would be affected most.

“We live in a patriarchal society and, if the going gets tough, in most families it is the female who drops out,” she said.

Mataranyika said female students might be forced to resort to “certain activities” that she equated to slavery to raise fees, and that may well affect them in the future.

It is understood that some female students are forced to engage in love relationships with married men who give them money in exchange for sex.

The government’s decision to approve the new fees structure comes at a time when civil servants have given notice of strike action to the government, citing poor salaries with which they cannot afford the rising costs of goods and services.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which came into power through a coup in November 2017 and ended the rule of then president Robert Mugabe, awarded a 151% pay hike to security services only early this year.

Last week, salary negotiations with civil servants ended in a deadlock after the government offered a 25% pay hike.

Note: The US dollar figures were calculated using an average estimated exchange rate of US$1:ZWL$100. This is not the official exchange rate, but an average of the black market rate and the interbank or official rate. The official rate may be used by the government and banks, but ordinary Zimbabweans rely on the alternative rate for currency calculations.