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Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu ,Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT has released $3 million for the rehabilitation of Plumtree High School dining hall which was gutted by fire last year.
This was revealed by Primary and Secondary Education Minister Evelyn Ndlovu when she toured the school yesterday.
Minister Ndlovu applauded Government for its efforts to restore normalcy to one of the remaining public boarding schools.
Minister Ndlovu appealed to former pupils and partners to help assist the school to rebuild as the availed money was not enough to meet all the costs.
The fire incident was the second major fire following the burning down of a double-storey hostel in 2018. The second incident occurred at a time when the school was being used as a Covid-19 isolation centre for Zimbabweans returning from Botswana after the outbreak of Covid-19.
When the fire broke out, the Beit Hall that doubles up as a dining hall was locked thereby ruling out speculations that the fire could have been started by individuals.
Minister Ndlovu said Government was committed to the refurbishment of both buildings.
“We are very grateful to the Government for the $3 million to refurbish the buildings and we appreciate the effort made to ensure that our learners have accommodation. The hall which is being refurbished is one of the facilities that used to generate revenue for the school hence we call on former learners to come and join hands so that we restore the legacy,” said Min Ndlovu.
She said due to the Covid-19 pandemic, learners could no longer crowd in the few classrooms and as such there is need to repair the other classrooms to allow social distancing.
Following the fire incident there was speculation that returning residents could have started the fire but investigations pointed to an electric fault.
President Mnangagwa ordered the refurbishment of the buildings.
A high-level team from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works visited the school and came up with estimates of resources required to reconstruct the hall.
Before going to Plumtree yesterday, on Thursday, Minister Ndlovu was in Bulawayo and met key stakeholders.
She said Government is working on addressing the plight of teachers including a retention package to arrest the skills flight.
“We are working with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development to make sure that we address the shortage of STEM teachers. We have to concentrate on the recruitment of those that are going for teacher training with STEM so that we improve on the output in our schools in terms of children being churned out with science subjects,” she said. — @thamamoe
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