GWERU, ZIMBABWE – Proud Maramba, 24, studies business at Gweru Polytechnic College in Gweru, a city in central Zimbabwe. Holding a pile of books in his hands, Maramba boards a bus from his home in Mkoba to town every school day.
Cheap schoolbags that his 60-year-old mother, an unemployed widow, can afford to buy for him cannot weather even one school term. So he always ends up carrying his books to school in his hands.
He exits the bus in the central business district. He can’t afford to board a second bus that would take him to the school, so he walks for about two kilometers from the central business district to campus.
Maramba’s family survives on the meager earnings of his two elder sisters, who work as civil servants and have their own families to look after. It is not always easy for them to pool enough funds for Maramba’s school fees. He can barely afford to buy stationery and essential books for his studies.
In the past, students in government tertiary institutions did not pay their own fees. Instead, they received government grants for tuition fees, accommodations, transportation and school supplies. But after a decade-long economic crisis, students must now pay for everything themselves. With many students unable to do so, they are forced to skip lectures or drop out.
“The college administration has informed us that those who have not paid their fees arrears will not be allowed to register and sit for examinations,” Maramba says. “A lot of students come from poor families [who cannot] afford to pay on time.”
He says that students have tried to negotiate with the administration but to no avail.
University and college students in Zimbabwe say that the cancellation of government grants following the economic crisis here has been forcing them to miss lectures or drop out altogether. University administrators respond that students have various options to afford their fees on time, such as government work exchange, sponsorship or payment plans, but students say those options are not sufficient. Other concerns include a drop in the quality of education, lack of affordable housing and poor medical care, with some students turning to prostitution in exchange for housing, food and money. While students call for the return of government grants or the option to pay in the future, government officials say that the higher education system needs to diversify its funding.
Government grants used to cover student fees until the country’s decade-long economic crisis. Zimbabwe’s economy declined more than 45 percent between 1999 and 2008, according to the World Bank.
The school fees for the three terms a year at polytechnic colleges are an average of $300 per term, plus and an examination registration fee in November of $200. University students pay an average of $700 per semester, with two semesters making up the school year.
Like Maramba, students at government institutions throughout the country are feeling the pressure to pay for school.
Vimbai Togara, 26, a human resources student at Midlands State University, also located in Gweru, says the payment schedule of school fees is insensitive to the prevailing income base.
“For one to attend lectures, one [must] pay at least three quarters of the fees within the first week of the semester,” she says. “If not, administration staff move around campus, chasing away those who have not paid. And they fail to realize that not everyone can afford to pay all this money since our parents are civil servants who earn very little.”
Because students can only attend lectures after paying, many students must miss classes because they can’t afford to pay their fees on time. The result is a hide-and-seek game between students and school authorities. Students wait for the officials to finish their rounds of chasing away students, then they attend lectures for the rest of the day.
Reginald Nyango, information and public relations officer at Midlands State University, says that universities can’t afford to provide free education. At the same time, he says the university has never turned away any student for failing to pay fees. He says the school offers students three options if they can’t afford to pay their fees up front in full.
“The university has put in place various measures to ensure that students are able to register and sit [for] their exams,” he says. “For students who cannot afford to pay their fees, several options are available. The first is the cadetship scheme, under which [the] government pays full tuition for students.”
The government of Zimbabwe introduced a cadetship program in 2010 in which it pays the fees for those who enroll in the program. In return, students must work for the government for an equal number of years that they received funding.
The second option is a payment plan.
“For those who are not interested in the cadetship scheme but who have parents or guardians who are prepared to pay something,” he says, “students can approach the Registrar’s Office and present their fees payment plans and, once approved, students can then register and sit [for] their exams.”
The third option is sponsorship by private corporations.
“Students can also be beneficiaries of corporate/private sponsorship under the third option,” he says. “For example, currently we have a significant number of students who are benefiting from the Dr. Musipa Scholarship Fund, others from Capernaum Trust, FBC, Unki, Nyaradzo and ZB Bank, just to mention a few.”
He says that these options make it feasible for all students to attend lectures and to take their exams.
“Given some of these options, there is no plausible reason why students should fail to register or sit [for] their examinations,” he says. “If a student does not use any of the above, the assumption is that they are able to pay.”
But students say that these options are not always clear or favorable.
Some students say that it’s not clear how the cadetship program works, so they did not enroll. Maramba says that he feared being bonded under cadetship, which would require him to work for the government for several years. But he says that he wouldn’t be able to support his family with a government salary. Rather, he will need a job with a higher salary in the private sector so that he can raise their standard of living.
Togara is under cadetship. But she says that the government covers only $300 per student per semester, and students must pay the remaining amount – about $400. She says that this remaining amount hinders them from attending lectures because school authorities chase them away.
“Also, the university says that those who are under cadetship are the last ones to register,” she says. “First preference is given to those who are paying their own fees in full.”
She adds that some of her peers who are in parallel night and weekend programs are not eligible to apply for the funds.
Tafadzwa Kutya, vice president of Zimbabwe National Students Union, which lobbies and advocates for equal access to education, a student-friendly environment and the development of socially adjusted youth, says that as fees weigh heavier on students, the quality of education has decreased. He says that some lecturers have gone to other countries in search of higher salaries, more benefits and better working conditions. State-run tertiary institutions have resorted to recruiting teaching assistants to cover this gap, many times without the required guidance of a qualified lecturer.
Nyango, however, says that the lecturer situation has improved.
“While losses might have been experienced during the economic downturn, improvements in the macroeconomic environment have seen the university go out of its way in an effort to attract, retain and motive staff,” he says. “This has meant improved conditions of service characterized by: competitive salaries, local incentives, university-assisted loan facilities, funeral and medical aid facilities, among other staff benefits.”
He says that the university also draws on outside talent.
“The university also draws on the experience of visiting regional and international lecturers and recruits part-time lecturers from industry who are holders of relevant higher degrees,” he says. “The university as part of its quality assurance makes use of external examiners from within the region and abroad.”
External examiners, usually professors from other universities, check marked exams to ensure standards are met.
Kutya says that facilities and resources at Zimbabwean universities are also lacking.
“They lack adequate infrastructure for learning,” he says. “Even if you look at the student-computer ratio, it is too high and makes learning difficult.”
Tertiary institutions are also not able to provide housing for all the students who need it, Kutya says. At schools like Midlands State University, only students who have paid their tuition in full are eligible for accommodation on campus.
“ZINASU has noted this as the biggest problem faced by students, which has resulted in students becoming very vulnerable as they seek alternative housing,” Kutya says.
Togara says that landlords in Gweru city do not offer rooms for one person. They prefer at least four students to a room, which she says is too crowded.
“To make matters worse, landlords demand full rent payment, even if the semester ends midmonth,” she says. “We have tried to negotiate for half rentals in such instances, but they are not interested since this is also their income source.”
In such cases, students resort to what they term “squatting” with other students who secured accommodation within campus. Or a large group of students contributes to the rent of one room.
Nyango says that Midlands State University works closely with landlords, parents and other community members who offer accommodation to students in order to establish a mutually beneficial relationship that is sensitive to the students’ welfare. Still, he admits it’s a challenge at all universities.
“The challenge of accommodation is not peculiar to MSU, nor is the use of off-campus accommodation,” Nyango says.
Jimmy Wilford is the executive director of Students And Youths Working on reproductive Health Action Team, or SAYWHAT, a nongovernmental organization working with students in 24 colleges across Zimbabwe. He says that these challenges caused by the lack of government support can force students into precarious situations.
“The privatization of accommodation and other nonacademic services negatively affected students, resulting in them resorting to unorthodox ways of sustaining their continued stay in colleges,” he says. “Such ways included transactional sex, which put their lives at risk.”
Both Togara and Kutya acknowledge that some students now engage in commercial sex work in order to pay for alternative accommodation. Kutya explains that girls offer sex in exchange for rent money, and that male students earn money by arranging the transactions.
“Since it is not common for males to engage in commercial sex work, they are now facilitating the availability of female students for prospecting males, who then pay them a facilitation fee in return,” he says.
Togara says students also procure money for food this way.
“Some girls are even engaging in prostitution so that food, especially chicken and chips, is bought for them from a popular fast food outlet in Gweru,” she says.
But Nyango says that these transactions reflect society, not the universities.
“If someone decides to steal or to be a prostitute, it is because they are being themselves,” he says. “The university exists within and as part of the local community, and, more importantly, as part of the broader Zimbabwean community.”
Beyond tuition and housing, students say they have other needs that aren’t being met.
“Education authorities and our families think that we only need books and a roof over our heads,” says Regina Dube, 23, an arts student at the University of Zimbabwe. “They forget that we are also human beings who need adequate and affordable health care services.”
Togara says that at Midlands State University, it is mandatory for all students to pay $30 for medical services after registration. But Dube says that the clinic at University of Zimbabwe is poorly equipped, so she and other students usually seek medical services off campus, which costs additional money.
Wilford says that consultations with female students revealed that accessing and disposing of feminine hygiene products on campus is a challenge.
“[Access] has been a problem to the female students, leading to some students using other substitutes that are dangerous to their health,” he says. “In some cases, they end up using old clothes or miss lectures as they stay indoors. This can be shown by clear absence of [sanitary pads] within college tuck shops.”
Zimbabwe National Students Union lobbies the government and learning institutions to provide funds for infrastructure upgrade as well as grants for fees.
“As ZINASU, we are lobbying for a ‘Learn Now, Pay Later’ scheme so that students are not forced to defer or drop out of school because of nonpayment of fees,” Kutya says.
Maramba calls upon the government to revert to its previous grant system.
Wilford says that the Students And Youths Working on reproductive Health Action Team engages in various advocacy efforts to achieve this.
“We have also been advocating with policymakers to ensure that the grant system is reintroduced,” Wilford says.
But government officials say that the state can’t afford it.
In a 2011 presentation at Midlands State University, G.T. Gurira, principal director of human resources, administration and finance of the governmental Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education, explained that the higher education system has expanded rapidly since 1980. Three new public universities were created in 2012 to accommodate the rising number of students, whom the government can't afford to support. He also cited political, social and economic challenges from 2001 to 2010 as a result of land reform.
Instead, Gurira said that the higher education system needed to diversify its funding. His recommendations included public-private partnerships, joint ventures and innovative fundraising.
Wilford also points out the need for a multipronged approach by the government, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, universities, families and students to holistically address the challenges facing students.
