adminIt goes without saying that activities of teachers within the realm of a school play a critical role in shaping the destiny of that institution and its students.
Once a school’s structure fails infighting and clashes with parents become the order of the day.
Like every other institution with an organisational structure, one person holds all strings in their hands to avoid disorder.
And that person is the school head. A school’s reputational success is all hinged on how the head runs it. A head can enhance or destroy a school’s reputation. The success of any school depends primarily on the way it’s managed.
A number of schools that had rich reputations in sport or academics are now just shadows of their former fame. They have deteriorated such that even their alumni no longer want to be associated with them.
That deterioration is due to wrong and costly decisions made by those deployed to head such institutions.
The question then is: What sort of person should be appointed to head a school, whether it be rural or urban based. Is it only a matter of educational qualification, experience or competence. The abundance of available resources on its own is not enough to improve the standards of a school. A school can have it all, but bad management will weigh it down. The capacity of schools to improve teaching and learning is strongly influenced by the quality of leadership provided by the heads.
Maintaining quality and standards depends largely on the extent to which the head effectively executes his or her leadership responsibilities.
A head, therefore, should have the appropriate standard of behaviour and best practice in fulfilling his or her obligations to the school.
In short, a head must be beyond reproach and behave in accordance with principles of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, and honesty. They must be mindful of their personal and professional conduct in and outside the school.
Heads are not rulers, but mere stewards. The head’s office is not a personal possession, but an assignment.
We don’t expect them to be perfect, but they must be blameless. Unfortunately, these attributes are alien to the head of Glen View 2 Primary School, Jabulani Mupande, who has been accused by parents of acting like a sultan. Parents accuse Mupande of trying to arm-twist them to buy him a Toyota Hilux GD-6.
Instead of improving standards of the school, he’s dreaming of luxury. We are certain that Glen 2 Primary lacks so many basics, but the head is dreaming of cruising with the big boys. He has allegedly gone to extra lengths to ensure his dream of cruising in a GD-6 is realised by activating all sorts of means to ensure the money is raised.
He charges US$40 for a place for new students at the school, and increased the fee Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) students pay from US$2 to $65 000.
He has also been accused of inappropriate behaviour for allegedly soliciting sexual favours from parents seeking to enrol their kids at the school. He also allegedly forces student teachers into sexual liaisons with him, and history records that he was found guilty of kissing a Grade 6 student when he was a teacher at Chishawasha Primary School, resulting in him being transferred to another school.
We don’t believe he should be anywhere near a school, worse still a headmaster.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter