EDITOR — THE hike in local university’s accommodation fees has resulted in an outcry from parents and students. 

Most  parents and guardians were already struggling to finance their children’s education.

The Government pegged university fees at ZW$5 000 and below, with the exception of accommodation fees. Universities seem to be taking advantage of this and hiked accommodation fees to shocking levels. 

Accommodation fees has shockingly risen to more than ZW$6 000 per semester.

 To say the least the increments are ‘unjustified and ill-advised’ and have left us, students ‘extremely shocked and hamstrung’.

The cost of higher education has been escalating at an alarming rate. 

The cost of education was hiked from day-one when transport was hiked from Z$5 to Z$10 and even Z$15 per trip.

The fact that most parents and guardians were already struggling to send students to university even before the fees hike makes the cost of attaining education immensely impossible for most students.

The fee hikes leave university students with no other choice than to defer their studies and seek employment in order to help  parents and guardians with money to pay for their tuition.

Editor, do you see this as a solution? 

Not to speak of how this will negatively impact our economic sector due to the delay of qualified graduates entering market, are there no other solutions? 

It is with urgency that the Government must intervene and come up with solutions to this cancer. 

Our Constitution is clear; the State has an obligation to ensure that education is affordable and accessible.

Welenski Mafungo,

Glenview Harare.