GOVT ABOLISHES PTA FEES, OFFERS SUBSIDY TO GRANT AIDED SCHOOLS

GOVT ABOLISHES PTA FEES, OFFERS SUBSIDY TO GRANT AIDED SCHOOLS
By NATION REPORTER
GOVERNMENT has abolished the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) fees under the 2022 academic calendar for secondary and early childhood education level.
And Government has announced that it will pay K600 per learner in all grant-aided schools throughout the country to subsidise schools fees.
Chief Government spokesperson Chushi Kasanda,who is also Minister of Information and Media, announced that the government will also pay K205 for examination fees per Grade 12 learners in all grant-aided schools.
She said the new dawn administration would however engage the education secretaries for all grant-aided schools to agree on a reduced and affordable user fee that they shall charge per learner as they apply for their aided status.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday, Ms Kasanda said it was the government’s intention that pupils in grant-aided schools access education and learning at no cost.
The minister disclosed that they had already started with the initial stage of giving subsidy to grant aided schools so that over time, the government can move towards removing user fees in all these schools.
She said while such measures were being put in place, parents and guardians had a choice to take their children to government schools where they shall not pay any user fee or take them to a grant-aided school where they would pay a subsidised user fee.
Ms Kasanda also announced that Government intended to introduce a bursary scheme for vulnerable learners only covering boarding fees for secondary school pupils.
She noted that the selection of such learners will not be the responsibility of the Ministry of Education but will be determined at community level as funds will come from the Constituency Development Fund which will apply to all vulnerable learners from public and grant-aided schools.
She also said learners at secondary boarding schools who were not vulnerable shall be required to pay K1, 000 for boarding fees per term.
Meanwhile, Ms Kasanda has announced the abolishment of the PTA fees under the 2022 academic calendar for secondary and early childhood education level.
She said all PTA fees have been abolished from childhood education to secondary schools, and the schools would be compensated for the loss of revenue.