Most parents and guardians were greeted by shocking fee bills when schools opened for the second term. These massive hikes are in line with general price increases across all economic sectors. For most people, however, their salaries have remained largely the same.

Primary and Secondary Education minister Paul Mavima confirmed that several schools had applied to increase their fees again.

I am not in a position to tell how many had applied initially and how many have been approved. You can get that information from the permanent secretary who is in charge of that.

Any increases outside the approval by the secretary are thus illegal. You can get a full schedule of the applicants and those that were approved from the secretary.

Naturally, school fees differ from school to school. However, many boarding schools are believed to have raised their fees RTGS $1000 mark per term. Arundel, a so-called Grade A school, has garnered a lot of press for it’s fees. It now requires day scholars to pay RTGS $6 600 or US$1 500, while weekly borders will be paying RTGS$8 900 or US$2 023. Full borders will have to pay RTGS$10 800 or US$2 455.

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