A call to Old Boys for school development

MILTON High School is celebrating 114 years of existence with a clarion call for Old Boys to be involved in its development, inspiring learners that they can achieve great things after leaving the school.

Established on July 25, 1910 and named after Sir William Milton, the school has over the years grown in leaps and bounds and continued to be fertile ground for nurturing charismatic gentlemen.

Some of the school’s alumni include SuperSport commentator and former cricketer Mpumelelo Mbangwa, former Highlanders Football Club player and Bantu Rovers coach Methembe Ndlovu, Zak Hawa, the man behind Fazak Home & Hyper, Bekithemba Nkomo, an industrialist and former chairperson of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair and Jabu Mthethwa, an orthopaedic surgeon, among many others.

The school thrives under the motto, “Quit yeah like men, Be Strong.”

Milton High School headmaster, Mr Similo Ncube, called upon Old Miltonians not to shy away from helping the school.

“For those who want to help in fixing or building infrastructure at the school, this is controlled by Public Works and the Provincial Educational Director. Those are the people who give guidance and who also facilitate MoUs with various partners who want to take part in the development of the school, whether fixing the school’s grounds or buying assets,” said Mr Ncube.

“People with their resources can buy for us as an institution. For example, the grounds, the infrastructure there can be improved by partners and they can have their logos and banners when they do so. What we do is just to record and facilitate communication between those who want to help us and those who want to invest in the school.”

Mr Ncube added: “There is no instance where I would want to handle money. That’s not in my best interest. My interest is seeing the improvement of infrastructure financed by whoever. This is easier for me.”

He said this year, they had scaled down the celebrations for the Milton Address in order to organise and host successfully the World Literacy Day National celebrations in Bulawayo at Milton High School in September.

“It is an honour to witness a school attaining 114 years still impacting the lives of young learners in various ways. Our theme for this year is ‘Transforming the lives through literacy.’

“Our theme is linked to us hosting the World Literacy Day national celebrations in Bulawayo at Milton High School,” said Mr Ncube.

He said Milton High School strives to produce a complete learner who is competent in all aspects of life.

“Some of our learners are all-rounders. One of our young men is talented; take him to darts, he comes up tops, whether in athletics or in class, he is the best. We want the young learner to come out as a better person and we are exposing them as much as we can as we celebrate the 114 years,” said Mr Ncube.

He said a lot of pupils at the school have made Milton High proud by distinguishing themselves nationally in sport.

“Our learners have excelled in various activities and are in national teams, be it football, cricket, darts, hockey and the like. We are giving them a chance to excel so as to also keep themselves out of drug and substance abuse,” said Mr Ncube.

He said he was pleased that some Old Miltonians were working with the school.