The ManicaPost
THE seemingly escalating feud between the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland and School Development Associations at its schools will definitely affect education if it is left to continue unchecked. There is bad blood between the church and the SDA members on issues of financial management and levies.
What should be noted is that when two bulls fight, it is the grass that suffers.
In this case, for as long as the church pulls in one direction, dictating what is deems fit as the responsible authority and the SDA members stick to their codes arguing that they are doing things by the book, pupils will bear the brunt of all this.
From the look of things, the war is still on and it is slowly turning nasty.
Three weeks ago, scores of pupils were sent away from schools after the church entered classrooms and ordered pupils in school fees arrears to go home and collect money. This was done in stark defiance of a well-known Government directive that bars schools from sending pupils away.
The directive says — in simple terms — schools must leave pupils alone and file lawsuits against their parents and guardians who are supposed to pay the fees since they are the ones who entered into an agreement with the school.
For whatever reason, the Anglican Church acted otherwise and took it upon itself to send away the children after the school administration and the SDA members said they could not be part and parcel of an illegal move that is against a Government directive.
The diocesan secretary, Mrs Chinguno, defended the move, saying parents owed the school $180 000 in unpaid fees, thus sending the children away would make them pay.
“What is happening is that there is a crisis at the school. Junior workers have gone for days without receiving salaries yet the big guys like the bursar are paying themselves on time. SDA members are getting hefty allowances each time they sit and some of the meetings only last for an hour. As the responsible authority we want to see workers getting paid because they are doing their job. We held a meeting with the administration over the issue and they said that they were owed $180 000 in unpaid fees. Schools are about to close and there are pupils who have not paid. Those in arrears must pay up because their children are eating food bought by others, which is not fair,” she said.
This position did not go down well with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education which quickly intervened and ordered the school to recall the pupils.
What many are asking is whether the ministry can somewhat penalise or discipline the church for acting contrary to a directive it gave.
It’s tricky.
What must be noted here is that the church is not an employee of the ministry. It’s only attachment to the ministry is that it owns a school which is registered by the same ministry to operate as one. Had it been that the school was a Government-owned one it was easy for the ministry to act because employees there would primarily be civil servants.
With such a scenario, the ministry becomes a toothless dog and owners of schools will continue to do whatever they please.
Acting provincial education director Mr Andrew Chigumira’s response to the St Augustine’s saga shows that the ministry has limited power to force the church to abide by its directives.
Without saying exactly what course of action the ministry was going to take after the Anglican Church said it runs its schools the way it likes, for instance, sending away those in fees arrears, Mr Chigumira acted more like a mediator than an authority enforcing school ‘‘law’’.
He said the ministry does not expect a Christian organisation to act in the way it did, saying the move was not only outside the law but does not show a human face.
“We were surprised by the move which is very unfortunate. No one is allowed to send pupils home over fees. What the church did is illegal and we don’t expect that from people who are supposed to care for others. As we speak I have instructed the responsible district education officer to ensure that all the pupils are back and that message has since been passed on to the headmaster and the SDA.
“We shall engage the church and remind it of what the law says and how they should claim arrears from parents. As a ministry we don’t want pupils to be disturbed in their studies over fees. Our duty is to ensure smooth learning and not this fiasco we are witnessing,” he said.
After his warning, the church stuck to its guns and refused to admit pupils who had not finished paying fees.
Only those who had collected what was due were allowed to go into classrooms. The school head and the SDA members had no say because the responsible authority was running its property the way it sees fit.
Parents and guardians were left exposed as they felt that the ministry was not acting enough to whip the Anglican Church into line regarding its interference with the running of St Augustine’s.
“It seems the ministry is a toothless bulldog when it comes to issues concerning the Anglican schools. We have complained in the past, but nothing is being done. At the moment we are appealing for President Mugabe to chip in and arrest this situation because we have had enough,” said a parent.
In all fairness, there is need by the church, the administrators and the SDA to enlighten each other on roles played by each party in running the schools.
It is clear that these people know their roles, but there is need for a refresher course so that no party will cross functional lines and create chaos.
The church must know its roles and where they should end with regard to interfering in academic issues.
It is best for the church to leave academia to trained teachers and administrators.
Inasmuch as the church must be paid levies by the schools as owners of the property, they should strike a balance and come up with reasonable figures so that the primary objective of educating children is not greatly compromised.
It makes no sense for the church to ask for too much yet pupils do not have furniture to use in classrooms and it also makes no sense for the church to get peanuts from a property it spent years building. There should be return on investment.
