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George Maponga in Masvingo
Tucked in the north-western suburb of Rhodene in the ancient city of Masvingo, the fledgling Junior High School is a dream come true for its soft-spoken founder, Mr Noah Marima, who in a space of a decade transitioned from being a temporary school teacher at Chirumba Secondary School in the Bikita to owning an elite school.
The school is destined for greater heights if the 2023 Cambridge ‘A’ Level final examination results are anything to go by.
Junior High opened its doors in January 2002 and is a crystallisation of a dream long harboured by its proprietor, Mr Marima, who is also a businessman.
Mr Marima owns a multi-storey Junior Complex in Masvingo City Centre, Junior Driving School, Junior Construction, Junior Microfinance and Junior Security Services, which all fall under Marima Holdings.
Nestled on 8,5 hectares on Lundi Drive, Junior High School is aided by the opening of its sister Junior Primary School.
Junior High started with 240 students, two years ago, who were in various classes from Forms 1 to 6 and from then on the institution has been growing in leaps and bounds.
Today Junior High School’s enrolment has almost doubled to over 400 students while the primary school has over 300 students an indication that Junior Group of Schools is increasingly positioning itself as a force to reckon with in the Masvingo educational domain.
At Junior High, the institution does not only stop at preparing learners to acquire academic certificates, but the school leveraged on its close affinity to Junior Driving School and made it mandatory for ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level students with national identity cards to undergo driving lessons for them to be also armed with a driver’s licences by the time they leave the institution.
An aerial view of Junior High School in Rhodene, Masvingo
However, it is the school’s meteoric rise to the zenith of educational excellence in Masvingo that has earned the new institution acclaim within and without the province.
The recently released 2023 ‘A’ Level Cambridge final examination results have solidified Junior High’s position as a pacesetter in academic excellence in the province, making it the institution of choice when it comes to the pursuit and realisation of academic excellence.
Junior High School recorded 100 percent pass rate in the 2023 ‘A’ Level Cambridge final examinations with the inaugural group of 32 students all passing.
The highest student sat for five subjects and attained 24 points after scoring straight As in Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Science and then a grade B in Physics. The second best student at the high-riding institution wrote 4 subjects and got 18 points after scoring As in Mathematics and Chemistry and 2 Bs in Biology and Physics. Out of the 32 students who sat for the exams 52 percent were males while 48 percent were females.
Mr Marima, remains humble despite the achievements of his educational enterprise, citing team work, dedication and commitment as a triad of part of the attributes that are propelling his institution to the top.
He is optimistic that even better days are still ahead despite a lightning start to academic excellence at Junior High School.
The congenial Junior High School founder says besides moulding students intellectually, etiquette and grooming were also key deliverables expected to be imparted to learners.
“Besides our relentless pursuit for academic excellence, we are also specialists in etiquette and grooming so that we mint students who will make a positive contribution upon joining the world after completing their studies.
“Our niche area is that we are a stakeholder-driven institution, we reflect what our stakeholders, who are parents and guardians of our students, expect from us and that is what has made us to also take the lead in grooming and etiquette. It is our stakeholders who push as to deliver and we will continue fine-tuning our modus operandi to reflect their expectations for us to remain relevant in the future,” he said.
“We are happy with the acceptance that we have received from the community we serve both in Masvingo and beyond because in a very short space of time our enrolment numbers have doubled to over 400 at the high school and around 300 at the primary school, where we offer both day and boarding school services.’’
A learner receives a prize at Junior High School which recorded a 100 percent pass rate in the 2023 A’ Level Cambridge final examinations
Junior High also offers a wide sporting menu with students having the leisure to partake in football, handball, volleyball, basketball, tennis and even swimming.
The tantalisingly low teacher to pupil ratio is partly credited for the high pass rate at the school.
“From primary school up to Advanced Level our teacher to pupil ration is uniform at 20 students for every teacher and we feel this enables the teacher to adequately attend to every learner and have a clear comprehension of each and every one’s strengths and weaknesses,’’ said Mr Marima.
“We realised as Marima Holdings that there was a huge gap of providing affordable quality education to our Masvingo community because there were several elite private schools that offered better and quality education, but the schools fees regime was beyond the reach of many, so we conceived the idea of opening Junior Group of Schools, where fees would be affordable, but also with a dividend of quality education and we are happy that we seem to be on the right track,’’ he said.
Once a teacher always a teacher and the genial Mr Marima says it was his long held dream to contribute in the erection of solid pillars on which the country’s education would be predicated.
“I was once a teacher and of course that has a huge influence in my decision to open a private school that would offer quality education for students at very affordable fees.
“My dream is for the Junior Group of Schools brand to spread its tentacles across the whole length and breadth of Zimbabwe so that I can quench my huge appetite to see a better educated progeny in Zimbabwe.’’
Online Reporter