Schools warned about development fund

“Principles and teachers who continue to ignore the directives of the Ministry of Education on the school development fund are breaking the law”, said David Namwandi, Deputy Minister of Education this week.
“The Ministry will not play hide and seek with anyone, parents are not allowed to pay for books, stationery and teacher’s salaries. Universal Primary Education starts January 2013.
“Parents must be refunded, there is no securing of places in government schools. School development fund is a dead animal,” the minsiter said.
He advised parents who bought stationery before the announcement of the Universal Primary Education was made not to take back the stationery for a refund as it does not make “business sense”.
Namwandi told parents who have not yet bought stationery not to panic because the Government will make the stationery available.
“We agreed on free education, it has to start somewhere. The government is not inefficient, this is an effective government. We are going to kill this animal called inefficiency and bureaucracy to make sure that the money reaches all schools,” he said.
He further said that schools should not compel parents to pay school fees. He, however , said parents are not prohibited to help schools if they want to donate money as long as this done voluntarily.