Scores of pupils at Beautiful Beginners, an unregistered boarding school in Marondera, were yesterday left stranded after the messenger of court evicted them after the authorities allegedly failed to pay rentals.
by Jairos Saunyama
NewsDay a few months ago unearthed a scandal in which the school, run by Netsai Makamure, was allegedly operating an unregistered boarding institution that received more than $20 000 from the government through the War Veterans ministry.
A number of war veterans’ children are reportedly enrolled at the institution.
The school was using House No 19 Marondera Crescent in Winston Park, owned by an Indian businesswoman, as a boarding facility, while the children were ferried from the house to the school that is located in the industrial sites.
The school offers boarding facilities to primary school pupils and Form 1 students only.
The Primary and Secondary Education ministry has since confirmed that the learning institution is unregistered.
When NewsDay visited the boarding house yesterday, the messenger of court officials were busy removing the pupils’ belongings and throwing them outside the gate.
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A pile of beds, heap of trunks, blankets and other goods were thrown outside the school grounds.
Efforts to get comment from the school owners were fruitless.
According to a reliable source, the school is failing to settle about $1 500 in rental arrears.
“There are a number of issues here. The school is failing to settle just less than $2 000 in rental debts. The problem is that the owners are politicising this whole issue. Moreover, other residents have filed a report with the relevant authorities accusing the children of making a lot of noise,” the source said.
The case of Beautiful Beginners was before the courts, but could not take off after government officials from the relevant ministry refused to testify, saying they were being threatened by political bigwigs with interests in the learning institution.
