Jun 25, 2005, 13:24 GMT
Harare - The Zimbabwe government has massively hiked fees for state primary and secondary schools, the official Herald newspaper reported Saturday.
Fees per term for primary schools in low-income town and city suburbs have gone up 1000 times to 100,000 Zimbabwe dollars (10 U.S. dollars), the paper said.
Foreign pupils attending those schools must pay 300 U.S. dollars, it added.
Fees for secondary schools have also gone up 1,000 times. The hikes also apply to schools in more affluent areas, but pupils attending primary schools in rural areas will not have to pay.
News of the hikes comes at a bad time for Zimbabwe's city- dwellers, some of whom have lost their homes under a controversial campaign of shack demolitions.
School attendance in Harare's oldest suburb of Mbare is already reported to be down by 50 per cent.
President Robert Mugabe's government has clashed several times with private schools on the issue of school fee hikes. The government accused the schools of being racist and trying to exclude pupils.
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