The students, some of whom finished their examinations in February and should now have been employed have been denied access to their results. The college has withheld their diplomas arguing that they should pay fees and any outstanding arrears first. The issue whose case number is 963/2010 will be heard at the Gweru courts with the College principal, Florence Dube cited as the first respondent. The students said they have been pleading with the principal to have their diplomas released so that they are able to work and repay the college.
We do not mind the college making arrangements with the Salary Service Bureau (SSB) so that it can recover its money. We are not refusing to pay, but we are incapacitated to pay and it does not make sense for the college to hold on to our diplomas. If we remain unemployed they will not be able to get any money from us because we will not be able to pay, said one of the students, now considering crossing the Limpopo to go and do menial jobs.
How can we be punished for being poor, yet the government has contributed to our parents’ inability to send us to school? Where does a civil servant gets US$1 200 for two terms? the student queried. The college does not get the money through keeping our diplomas in an office, they would rather give us and we work, then we can repay them, the irate former MTC student fumed.
The students also said the college was running the college with an iron hand with authorities barring students from being members of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) a body that represent students.
The college held its graduation ceremony in May for only those that had paid their fees. Some of our colleagues who are fortunate enough to have afforded the fees graduated. I have met some of them they are now employed while we are still pondering about our future, said another student who again spoke on condition of anonymity.
A few of the students said they had been able to get temporary teaching posts using their ordinary level or advanced level results but said they get posted to very remote areas where those with diplomas refuse to go. The MTC principal could not be reached for comment, but some lecturers at the College admitted that the principal was being hard on the students who could not genuinely afford to pay for the fees. The lecturers said they felt the fees were unaffordable.
Post published in: News