Some schools have already gone ahead and tripled fees ahead of the first term, which begins on January 10, 2022.

According to reports, this hike is to serve as a buffer protecting the schooling institutions against the effects of the depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar against major currencies on the parallel market.

Some schools have already gone ahead and tripled fees ahead of the first term, which begins on January 10, 2022.

The official exchange rate is around $109 to the United States dollar.

However, on the parallel market, where most businesses actually get foreign currency, the Zimbabwe dollar (Zimdollars) trades at $230 to the greenback (United States dollar).

“My child has been accepted at a top private school in Gweru. The fees are US$900, but in Zimdollars the fees are pegged at $216 000,” one parent said.

“If I do not pay within a week, the local currency figure changes to reflect whatever exchange rate movement would have taken place,” she added.

With such news doing the rounds, prefacing your 2022 with a “Happy New Year” when greeting parents and guardians is clearly misplaced.

“Most school development committees have already told parents that fees have more than doubled coming into the next year while salaries remain low,” said Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary-general, Japhet Moyo.

These unfriendly circumstances will manifest themselves further as dropouts increase because parents cannot afford the exorbitant fees.

Again, other children will be transferred to cheaper schools which suit a parent or guardian’s resource envelope and children from rural homes who do not have livestock to sell will fall by the academic wayside.

“Teachers and civil servants won’t be able to send their children to school in 2022. Already we have noted that most private schools, which are owned by the politicians, are charging fees in US dollars,” said Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Mr. Raymond Majongwe.

If this is not bad enough, schools run by the government are seemingly in competition over which institution can charge more for a quality education and so this education will soon be out of reach to the average person.

Mr. Majongwe said unless the Government pays salaries to its workers in US dollars, civil servants face an uncertain future.

Zimbabwe’s economy is in a state of freefall, with inflation spiralling and Zimdollars losing value by the day.

The International Monetary Fund predicts that, in the short run, zero growth will meet with runaway inflation and a devaluing currency to shape an albatross around the necks of everyday Zimbabweans.