President Mnangagwa has bailed out 34 learners at Findale School in Eastview, Harare, who missed their first O'Level examination paper after the school allegedly misappropriated their examination fees.
The President has paid for the stranded learners examination fees and made it possible for them to write the remaining subjects.
Police were roped in to arrest the perpetrator at the school who collected their examination fees, but did not register them.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Torerayi Moyo yesterday visited the school in Harare advising those affected that the President had bailed them out.
"I want to thank His Excellency the President for coming to the rescue of all these learners because their fundamental right, education, had been violated through this theft by the owner of this school.
"The President has offered to pay examination school fees for all the 34 candidates whose rights had been violated by the owner of this school. So, we have identified the 10 examination centres where this happened. Nine of the centres are in Harare Metropolitan and only one centre is in Mashonaland East," he said.
Minister Moyo said the Government would intensify its fight against schools that are operating illegally.
"So, we are going to come up with a paper which I am going to present in Cabinet in two weeks' time, I have directed chief directors and officials in my Ministry to come up with the position paper which we are going to present so that action will be taken.
"We have observed in these schools some of the teachers are not qualified to teach at secondary school level," he said.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
For instance, Minister Moyo said, at Findale School, one of the teachers was a primary-trained teacher.
"Some of them do not have the qualifications to teach secondary school students so we are going to take measures to deal with those schools that are operating illegally so that we bring to an end all these issues," he said.
Minister Moyo said the school head committed a crime by collecting money from students and not registering them with the established examination centre.
"He committed theft. We have already notified the police to arrest him. No one is above the law, so the law will take its course," he said.
Zimsec chief executive, Dr Lazarus Nembaware confirmed the centres where learners will be sitting for their examinations.
"We are now putting in place all the requirements so that the affected learners will start writing their exams starting tomorrow. So, starting tomorrow they must report to the centres which we have allocated them.
"They will write as private candidates and their results will be made public," he said.
