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NewsDay

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Schools defy Dokora

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SEVERAL private and public schools, including the Zimbabwe Republic Police High School in Harare, have set themselves on a collision course with Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora.

SEVERAL private and public schools, including the Zimbabwe Republic Police High School in Harare, have set themselves on a collision course with Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora after they defied his directive to stop holding Form One entrance tests.

PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI

Dokora recently scrapped entrance tests, accusing school authorities of charging non-refundable entrance test fees of between $30 and $50 for limited Form One places.

ZRP High School last weekend held its entrance tests where each pupil was asked to pay $25.

Documents availed to NewsDay showed that several other schools have scheduled entrance tests for July 5 this year.

Some of the schools were St George’s College, Arundel, Dominican Convent (Bulawayo), Gateway High School, Hellenic Academy, Lomagundi College, Peterhouse Boys and Girls, Watershed College, Chisipite Senior, Eaglesvale High, Hillcrest College, Masiyephambili College, St John’s College, Westridge High, Christian Brothers College, Falcon College, Goldridge College, Kyle College, Petra High School and South Eastern College. In a letter addressed to parents by St George’s College headmaster Kevin Atkinson, candidates for the entrance test were required to pay $30.

“Every candidate wishing to write the entrance examination will be required to pay an exam administration fee of $30 and a deposit of $300.

“This deposit will be refunded to you if your son is not offered a place at St George’s College,” read part of the letter.

The decision by these schools to proceed with the entrance tests came after acting Secretary for Primary and Secondary Education Rogers Sisimayi outlawed the entrance tests.

“The policy position of the ministry is very clear. Schools are supposed to enrol Form One pupils on the basis of their Grade Seven results,” Sisimayi said.

“What is the purpose of Grade Seven examinations if they are not used for Form One entrance?

“We communicated with schools through the normal channels and that is in our written circulars.

“Entrance tests had become a fundraising business which government wants to avoid at all costs.

“We are now following government policy of the pro-poor agenda.” He said defiant schools will be dealt with accordingly.

Meanwhile, a senior official at The Heritage, an elite institution at Borrowdale Brooke, said the school which has infant, junior and senior departments was not part of trust schools.

“The Heritage is not part of trust schools. It is a private institution. We are also not holding entrance tests for Form Ones anytime soon,” she said.