The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) has raised concern over the number of tertiary students who are deferring studies due to exorbitant fees at various institutions of learning in the country.
Yesterday, students at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) staged a demonstration against fee hike which was later reversed.
Addressing journalists in Harare this afternoon, ZINASU president Boris Muguti said the shelving of studies had resulted in an increase of substance abuse and sexual harassment cases.
“Within our country, our education system is in shambles. Thousands of students are involuntarily deferring their studies because our institutions of higher learning are pegging exorbitant amounts of fees whilst civil servants salaries are not being reviewed upwards. Massive deferring of students have resulted in a rise in drug and substance abuse. Female students have been exposed to sexual exploitation in exchange for fees. This has led to moral decadence in our societies.
“Sexual harassment n on the rise we are very much aware of lecturers who are asking for sexual favors from students in exchange for marks We call upon Administrations to act responsibly and hold all culprits to account The universities sexual harassment policies are not strong enough, there’s need to tighten the screws The girl child must be protected,” said Muguti
He said drug abuse had a negative outcome on the Quality and standard of students being produced.
“Drug lords have drugged a whole generation which is a danger to the country and its development. We therefore call upon Mr Matanga (Police Commissioner General) and government to employ all machinery possible to curb the issues of drug abuse.
“In this era we expect all tertiary institutions to be well vested in technology. The failure by universities to offer enough services and build infrastructure to support modern education is also a matter of concern. A plethora of Universities around the country have failed to secure simple things like stable Wi-Fi and power backup. We therefore call upon the administrators of tertiary institutions to come up with viable short term and long term solutions,” he said
Muguti raid concern over the number of lecturers leaving the country in search of greener pastures due the slave wages they are currently getting.
