Hailstorm damages school in Mbire

been conducting lessons from thatched shades after the roof of school’s only two-roomed block was damaged by a hailstorm.
When hailstorm damaged the asbestos sheets in February last year, parents quickly put up some temporary pole and grass structures. Only the walls are still in place on the main school structure after rains and termites subsequently brought down the wooden trusses.
The school is situated in a remote part of the district, some 60km away from Mushumbi Pools and education officers rarely get that far because of poor roads.
The area has no communication network and buses are boarded some 20km away. An investigation by The Herald revealed that the Education district offices do not have vehicles and officers rarely visit some of the schools.
It took long for the district education officials to get the news of the disaster.
Councillor for Ward Five that covers Madzombe School, Cde Isaac Joko, said a report was made to Mbire legislator Cde Paul Mazikana who purchased roofing material using the constituency development funds.
“At last we now have the material and we are about to start the work. We now have metal beams for the structure and new roofing sheets were bought.
“I hope that would partially solve the classroom issue. We also require furniture and teachers’ houses,” said Clr Joko.
The school does not have staff houses and teachers are offered free accommodation by local parents who live closer to the school.
Pupils neither have benches nor desks. They sit on some logs and others on the ground during lessons. Clr Joko added that even if the two-roomed block was roofed, the classrooms were still not enough.
“We have 515 pupils in this school and two classrooms are not enough. There is need for more classrooms and teachers’ cottages.
Our teachers are staying with generous parents who live close to the school and they should not continue to be beggars,” said Clr Joko.
Stray lions are commonly seen in the area and children break early so that they reach home before sunset considering that some walk for more than 15km to school.
The school has no water and pupils rely on a community borehole that is some metres away from the schoolyard.