KELVIN CHONGO, Lusaka
MINISTER of General Education John Phiri has directed provincial education officers (PEOs) to work out acceptable boarding and day school fees for government schools.
Dr Phiri said the PEOs should submit their reports to his permanent secretary before the opening of the 2016 school calendar.
This is contained in a statement released on Thursday by the ministry’s spokesperson Hillary Chipango.
“The ministry (of General Education) is concerned that the high fees charged in some government schools are beyond the reach of the poor and rural based learners,” Dr Phiri said.
Dr Phiri, who met PEOs in Kabwe on Thursday, said it is regrettable that schools were charging higher fees which many poor parents could not afford.
He said out of the 102 districts that presented Grade 7 candidates, only 31 scored above the national mean score.
Dr Phiri urged the PEOs in provinces that recorded poor results to forge strategies to improve the quality of learning.