AT least 300 new schools will be registered this coming term, comprising mainly upgraded satellite schools, while another 50 will be built by the end of the year by development partners working with Government.
This follows the Second Republic’s commitment to walk the talk on reducing the distance that learners walk to get to the nearest school, in line with international best practice.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Torerayi Moyo told the Senate last week during a Question and Answer Session that more than US$2 million has been disbursed this term for the construction of schools, in keeping with President Mnangagwa’s directive that learners should not walk more than 5km to access the nearest school.
“As far as classrooms are concerned, the Government is doing a lot in terms of classroom construction. This year we got trillions of dollars, which will be channelled to the construction of classrooms,” said Minister Moyo.
“We have identified those schools, satellite schools, and areas where learners are travelling for more than 5km. We are going to build primary and secondary schools so that we reduce the walking distance in line with international provisions. Again, it is not just the Government that will be solely involved in school construction; we have development partners who are complementing Government efforts. We have a global partnership in education in the name of Unicef where we have complementary funding.
“These are funds that are there to be channelled towards the provision of classrooms. Just this term, we have disbursed more than US$2 million from the global partnership to construct classrooms so that satellite schools will be registered. That is an advantage because where a school is operating without being registered, learners will walk to the nearest mother school. So, this term we are going to register not less than 300 schools and examinations will be written in those schools.”
Another development partner, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, built 62 classrooms in Bulawayo, at Cowdray Park and many other schools between September and December last year.
“This year the development partner has promised and provided funds to build schools in Matabeleland South, in Umzingwane Constituency. In Gokwe-Chireya where I come from, there is a local school called Mareri, which was destroyed by winds and Latter-Day Saints is coming to support Government by providing new classroom blocks.
“So, we have quite a number of partners. We also call upon individuals who have funds to partner with the Government. We also have the OPEC Fund for International Development, which has pledged to provide 40 day schools and 10 boarding schools. A total of 50 schools will be constructed this year courtesy of our development partners that are complementing Government efforts,” said Minister Moyo.
The Heritage-based Education that has been introduced, said the minister, will be harmonised with Education 5.0 as Government seeks to revolutionise the education sector through bridging the urban-rural divide.
“As a ministry we have just introduced Heritage-based Education, which is an attempt to harmonise Education 5.0 with Heritage-based Education whose major objective is to produce an African child who is suitable for the 21st century and some of the things that we inculcate in our learners include the issue of critical thinking skills.
“We want our learners to be highly innovative, be able to identify societal challenges that are affecting our communities, in both our rural and urban areas.
“We will soon be rolling out tablets, laptops and desktop computers from Grade One to Form 6 where learners are going to be imparted with skills of coding, robotics and artificial intelligence. They will go an extra mile in ensuring that they are going to address societal challenges, be creative and find problem-solving skills: that will be a milestone,” said Minister Moyo.
Some learners from Mashonaland West who showed thinking skills in irrigation infrastructure, were given awards by the ministry.
“They have demonstrated that even when one is a farmer based in South Africa, they can use remote control skills to send some codes to Zimbabwe and the water pump will respond positively, leading to irrigation. It can also direct that plot A should be irrigated for a specified period,” Minister Moyo said.
On internet connectivity, the minister said they had started introducing the internet in a box where a server would be installed at the administration block of a school.
“That server will not use Wi-Fi. It is a server deployed to the administration block and any learner within a radius of 200 metres will be able to access notes uploaded by the teacher. The teacher will upload information and the learners can access the teaching-learning materials from that server, which is very important. We are using geospatial information from our sister, the Ministry of Higher Education, where we are embracing the satellite system which may not even require the use of data and so forth,” he said.
“We are bringing real reforms in education. We cannot go back to the 1980s and 1990s when we were emphasising the provision of textbooks. Textbooks will only be found through ICT gadgets and the internet in the box. Any book, e-book, any notes, any questions with answers, is what we need and that is in line with the 21st century, not to go back to hardcopy textbooks. Textbooks are uploaded in the system.” – Herald
