adminFreedom Mutanda
FOLLOWING the dismal results that were recorded in Chipinge in the wake of the 2008 economic meltdown, NASH Chipinge took the bull by the horns and formed a sub- committee that acted as a think to the main body as the heads’ grouping at secondary level sought to unravel the secret behind the monumental failure rates that pervaded the district.
Blaming the students was not an option as everyone knows that teachers slackened in their teaching for they could not survive given that the local currency had fallen to record lows against other currencies. As a result, students were left without teachers with the latter moonlighting.
Beacon Hill High School headmaster, Mr Buzile Angirai Sithole, who is in charge of academics in the district said: “I am in charge of academics in Chipinge. Mine is a sub-committee that is related to enhancing the pass rate in the district. I co-ordinate educational activities in Chipinge. We resuscitated the subject panels.
“As a district, we encourage subject panels to show that they are alive by holding workshops. Scheming according to the syllabus is our war cry in the district. To that end, chairpersons of different panels arrange workshops to empower many teachers.’’
Mr Sithole works closely with Chipinge Better Schools Programme Zimbabwe contact person, Mr Arnold Maviki in executing his duties.
The district has 57 secondary schools and Mr Sithole’s duty is to ensure that teachers are able to interpret the syllabus and scheme according to the laid down procedures.
“Building Studies, Home Economics, Mathematics, Science and English are very visible and we are confident the other subject will come on board sooner than later.
Science and English have managed to produce district mid- year papers without fail for the past four years. For that, I would like to thank the respective chairpersons of those subject panels for walking the talk. There are challenges in the execution of duties in subject panels. You find schools that are unwilling to write district papers citing the distance between them and the district office as the primary reason for their failure to collect the papers.
“We intend to bring the papers to a school that is central in each cluster for easy access. For example, Checheche High School is central in Chipinge South,’’ said Mr Sithole about his future plans.
On Performance Lag Address Programme, he said it was a good initiative that ultimately helps the learner to learn with a positive mind.
“PLAP had an initial resistance especially with secondary school teachers. As an academic board, we advocated for the use of teaching media to enable students understand the concepts.” said Mr Sithole.
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