CHINHOYI Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) Vice-Chancellor David Simbi says reports of prostitution among female students as a result of accommodation shortage in the surrounding suburbs were not causing him sleepless nights.
Addressing a Press conference at the university campus at the weekend, Simbi conceded the acute shortage of accommodation at CUT.
Indeed, our challenge is accommodation space. But as a university, other than talking to prospective landlords to humanely treat our students, there is not much we can do to stop the exploitation of students by landlords.
But remember when I am saying I am offering you (students) a place to study, I am not saying I am babysitting you, said Simbi, who said he expected students to fend for themselves as well as make their own choices as adults.
CUT registrar Thomas Bhebhe added: We do not enrol kids here, we have adults.
Simbi said the responsibility to fund students education was not for the government alone, but parents had to chip in. An accommodation crisis at the sole institution of higher learning in Mashonaland West Province had resulted in students squatting in overcrowded rooms in the nearby Cold Stream suburb. Landlords were reportedly charging at least $50 per head, with a room accommodating up to four students.
The university has an enrolment of 5 114 and can only accommodate 500 students at its campus hostels. Preference for on-campus accommodation was given to first-year students who were vulnerable to vice, officials said.
In a bid to decongest Cold Stream suburb and curtail exploitation of students, CUT offered free transport to-and-from campus daily and had allowed students to secure accommodation, even further from Chinhoyi town, where buses would pick them up, he said.
