No school place for MDC children

via No school place for MDC children 17 December 2014

Cheunzwe High School in Murewa recently turned away an aspiring form one pupil because his family supports the MDC.

Gorden Mutize, the MDC-T Mashonaland East organising secretary, told The Zimbabwean that he went to apply for his child’s form one place at the school driving a marked MDC-T vehicle, which did not go down well with school authorities, allegedly aligned to Zanu (PF).

“Initially, the child, who scored nine points at grade seven, was accepted by the school, but the offer was later withdrawn after it was realised that her family was MDC. This was after I had deposited the required 430 dollars school fees into the school bank account,” he said.

Mutize confronted the school authorities for an explanation but did not get a satisfactory response, forcing him to approach the District Ministry of Education offices at Murewa for redress.

The district education officer, Sylvester Makunzwa, told Mutize that it was unconstitutional for the school to discriminate against any child on partisan, religious, tribal or gender basis. He instructed the school authorities to admit the child as she deserved the place on the strength of her grade seven passes.

Contacted for comment, deputy headmaster Mufurungirwa said Mutize’s child had not been offered a place at the school, and Mutize had gone to the bank to pay fees without the knowledge of school authorities.

“The school did not offer Mutize’s child a school place, but for more information you should contact the school head,” said Mufurungirwa, who some teachers accused of bringing Zanu (PF) politics to the school.

The headmaster, Mr C Makupe, told this reporter that he was handling the issue and would take corrective measures. “I received Mutize’s complaint and am doing everything within my powers to address the issue. As the highest authority at the school, I will help do justice to the child,” he said.

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