expected to kick off in the last weeks of this month according to the student movement.
The government last month increased tuition fees in tertiary institutions from $ 60 000 to $ 10 million per semester ahead of the opening of the new semester in universities and tertiary institutions.
The amount is not inclusive of millions of dollars the students are expected to pay in accommodation fees per semester.
Clever Bere, National University of Science and Technology (Nust) president, who is also a national executive council member, said the boycott will be indefinite and will continue until government addresses the students’ concerns.
“The boycott has been called to protest the tough economic environment students are operating in and to force the government to withdraw the new fees structures,”Bere said.
In a statement released at a press conference to announce the class boycott yesterday Zinasu said the new fees structures introduced by the government are satanic and genocidal.
“The new fees for the academic year 2007-2008 can best be described as satanic and genocidal. Increasing tuition fees from $ 60 000 per semester to an unbelievable $ 10 million is totally unacceptable.
“This also happening against a background of price and salary freezes, and we are left wondering where the government expects the students to get money from,”Zinasu said in the statement.
Pressed to give exact dates on the planned national class boycott, Bere said the dates will be communicated later in order to protect student leaders who are organizing the class boycott.
The decision by the Zinasu national executive councilto hold a national class boycott comes at a time when state security agents have intensified repression against students.
Just on Tuesday this week the president of the University of Zimbabwe students union, Lovemore Chinoputsa, and his Secretary General Fortune Chamba were arrested and severely assaulted during a demonstration on campus.
The university students were demanding a resolution to problems affecting them.
The students are staying out of the university campus after campus hostels were shut down last semester following protests at the institution and health authorities in Harare have declared that the hostels are a health risk and students should not be allowed to stay in them- CAJ News.
Post published in: News