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Harare is reportedly losing thousands of dollars in revenue as some of its schools are not remitting tuition fees to the local authority. The city has ordered investigations to be conducted on four schools and a crèche. A bursar at one of the schools is set to appear before a disciplinary committee to answer charges of abusing tuition fees.

Since last month Swatzi parents have taken the streets because the government had fail carrying out the constitutional promise of free primary school education adopted in 2005. As a result, families have indebt in order to pay the scholar fees. The government has declared that at the end of the year only the pupils attending grades one and two will be except from school fees, and that the implementation will be progressive covering one grade each year until 2015.

The President has denied the claim of schools to charge monetary lunch fee for pupils under the Universal Primary Education (UPE), arguing that this program was conceived for poor families that could not afford additional fees. Besides, he declared that the pay of un-necessary amounts of money will create additional barriers to the free UPE as the ones that already exist; expensive uniforms, books, tours and others items.

New teachers often face a many-month delay before they receive their salaries. Teachers sometimes supplement their income with a second job. This can affect their own attendance at school, and can put pressure on the amount of time they have to prepare their lessons. A 2007 report by the Cambodian NGO Education Partnership (NEP) reveals education costs for each child averaged $108 annually, or 9 percent of each family's annual income. "When you include informal and formal school costs, and private classes and snacks, many students are paying $2.50 every day," the education and capacity-building officer for the NGO Education Partnership (NEP), told IRIN. The inability to pay informal fees was the most common reason parents gave for their children dropping out, the report stated.

Sierra Leonean civil society activists are working to improve accountability. The National Accountability Group (NAG) – the local chapter of Transparency International – used a Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) to find out what had happened to school fee subsidies and learning materials designated for a sample of 28 schools in a rural district. NAG's survey came after an earlier Ministry of Finance PETS revealed startling figures about education corruption. In 2002 researchers found that 45.1 percent of the funds for school fees subsidies were unaccounted for and that nearly 28 percent of teaching and learning materials had disappeared.

The Mayor of Ngoma District has issued a stern warning to school headmasters who inflate school registers with non-existent students and charge high fees on students sponsored by charity organisations. The authorities would punish anyone found guilty.

The Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) is accusing some private school operators of charging sky-high prices despite the Ministry of Education approving school fees for them, based on the grade of school. The level of school fees are stated in the constitution and should, according to GNAPS, be respected by both public and private schools.