Africa-Press – Lesotho. Students at Lerotholi Polytechnic went on strike on Monday following a stand-0ff with the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) over payment of fees.
The students said they would not sit for their exams which were due to begin on Monday and end tomorrow until the issue has been settled. They want the NMDS to settle the outstanding fees so that their examination results would be released.
The polytechnic’s registrar, Maleshoane Lepota-Mosekeng, said the school management had a meeting with Education Minister Professor Ntoi Rapapa on Monday to resolve the stand-off.
Lepota-Mosakeng said Professor Rapapa promised to organise an urgent meeting with the Minister of Finance, Dr Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane, to solve the issue.
“Professor Rapapa told us to allow students to write their exams and not to withhold their results (thereafter),” Lepota-Mosakeng said.
Lepota-Mosakeng said they requested that such an instruction be clearly put in writing. Unfortunately, they received the letter after students had already wreaked havoc on the campus on Tuesday.
Lepota-Mosakeng said there was no clear commitment that the students’ debts would definitely be cleared. “The letter only said the Ministries of Education and Finance are working on the issues,” she said.
She said the school is still adamant that the NMDS owes them and that it should settle the outstanding fees. Lepota-Mosakeng said when the school decided to increase fees it informed the NMDS and the students.
The NMDS did not respond to the letter. However, in April this year, the NMDS informed them that they did not have enough money to pay all the fees at one go.
They could only pay it in instalments. The students however told the school authorities that they could not proceed with the exams until the matter has been resolved.
A student who spoke to thepost said the NMDS had refused to pay the school claiming Lerotholi Polytechnic had increased the fees without first informing them.
“We now find ourselves going up and down between these two offices,” she said. She said the school had told them that they only needed permission from the school’s governing council to increase fees and not any other body.
This has now resulted in a tense standoff between the students and their sponsor. The students said they are afraid that once they write their exams, some of them will not graduate because they could not afford to settle their current balances. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Mpho Mosili, said she was not aware of the developments.
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