Tuesday, 5th May 2020

Press Statement on the recent Data Price Reviews by Econet and NetOne

The MDC Students Council notes with utter dismay the decision to review data tarrifs upwards by mobile operators econet and netone. This comes at a time where most institutions of higher learning across the country are conducting online lectures for some programmes since 30 March 2020 when the national lockdown started rendering physical college attendance impossible.

While we are supportive of the move to conduct online lectures, we are worried that many disadvantaged students will not be able to access education.

Only a handful of students (about 15%) can afford to buy data or have access to WiFi in the country. Most of us are incapacitated and depend heavily on our hard pressed parents and guardians for support.

This hike in data tarrifs is going to make the situation worse than it already is. It disenfranchises the majority of the students in the country especially given the fact that students have already paid fees for the semester (which was also burdensome) and was covering the internet itself. We now need more money to pay for a service that we have already paid for.

When the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Professer Amon Murwira urged universities to go digital, he stopped short of urging network operators to reduce data tariffs or provide assistance to students who will need to access e-learning platforms. We are appealing to him to make that call now.

We appeal to network service providers to help learners with free internet access as the cost of internet data which was already beyond the reach of many students has once again risen. If need be, they should offer us a special “e-learning” bundle which is affordable and allows students to access e-learning platforms. We are reaching out for help to our network service providers to assist us in this time of need.

Following a wave of fees hikes that was effected by all universities earlier this year forcing hundreds of students to defer their studies, we feel that our education system is slowly turning out to be for the rich only. We need to stop that from happening and allowing free access to e-learning platforms is one way of doing so.

Prince Gora
Chairperson
Hither Rujeko Mpambwa
Secretary General