CDF to upgrade Umzingwane schools

Charity Chikara, Sunday News Reporter
SCHOOLS in Umzingwane are set to get laboratory equipment sourced from part of the $2 million Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in a bid to boost the teaching of science subjects in the area.

In an interview, Umzingwane Member of Parliament Brigadier-General (Rtd) Levi Mayihlome said they realised that most pupils at schools in the constituency were being deprived of opportunities to enroll for science related studies at tertiary level, hence the idea to capacitate schools to teach sciences.

“At the moment, the teaching of science subjects at our schools have been confined to Combined Science/General Science without any practicals thus depriving pupils the necessary exposure and skills,” he said.

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome said focus was being placed on upgrading council run schools.

One of the schools that has already benefited is Silobi High which received the first batch of science equipment in May while additional equipment was also handed over last week.

“As soon as additional CDF allocations for 2022 are released, we plan to complete Nswazi, then move to Mvuthu, Sihlengeni and Mzinyathini High schools,” he said.

He, however, expressed concern over high charges for goods and services from service providers.

“Our biggest challenge has been the erosion of the local currency value due to parallel market benchmarking by suppliers which has diminished the quantity of deliveries,” said Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome.

Equipment of schools to promote the teaching of science is in-line with the country’s economic blueprint, National Development Strategy (NDS1), that seeks to produce students equipped with necessary skills to grow the economy.