The government of Zimbabwe is considering increasing allowances for students at all state universities and colleges, the House of Assembly was told on Tuesday.

Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Stan Mudenge said the government is committed to providing higher education to the people and would continue to give assistance to the best of its ability.

He said his ministry has made arrangements with institutions of higher learning to allow students to continue attending lessons while discussions between the two ministries are taking place.

No student would be sent away for failing to pay tuition fees, said Mudenge, adding mechanisms would be put in place to ensure disadvantaged students to continue with their study.

Last week students at the Bindura State University destroyed property valued at more than 400 billion Zimbabwe dollars (one U.S. dollar equals about 101,000 Zimbabwe dollars) during protests to press the government to increases allowances.

The government increased tuition fees at all state-assisted universities and colleges by 2,000 percent. This has seen fees for students studying social sciences increase from 2 million Zimbabwe dollars per semester to 32 million.

Mudenge said the fee increases are a result of the difficult economic situation in the country and have been arrived at after extensive consultations, with universities having proposed 100 million Zimbabwe dollars per semester.

He noted that the burden of fees at state-assisted universities is far less than at private institutions and those attending them are privileged.

Fees at state universities are a quarter of those charged at private ones, where students are paying 120 million Zimbabwe dollars per semester, he said.

"The full cost of supporting a student is 140 million Zimbabwe dollars per semester. The rest is subsidized by the state," said Mudenge.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Thursday last week expressed concern over the increases in school fees and declared that no pupil would be sent away from school for failing to pay.

Source: Xinhua