School fees drives students to streets and 'masimo'

Moupo told Parliament that this is clear evidence of the negative effects of the new policy on school fees. "Given that Botswana is a middle-income country, characterised by a classical paradox of rich country-poor citizenry, there is no rational justification for imposing a heavy burden on the poor by trying to collect P60 million from them, while the Government does not hesitate to splash P20 million in building a retirement house for the President. The Ministry of Education returned P600 million of unspent development funds to the Ministry of Finance," he said.

Zuze said the number was of the students sent back the first time. "The majority collected the money and returned to school, while 91 absconded even after being told to return even though they do not have the money," she said.