Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, [email protected]
The Government, community, and development agencies are pooling resources to build more secondary schools in Beitbridge, where there are deficiencies.
The district has more than 75 primary schools but only more than 16 secondary schools, yet ideally there should be one secondary school for every 5 000 people.
It is recommended that older children should walk between 1,6km and 3km to school, while younger children should walk 0,8km or less.
A new secondary school is rising in the Musane area, Ward 14 in Beitbridge West, and the project is being funded by the community and the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
In an interview, Beitbridge West legislator Cde Thusani Ndou said that work was already underway, with a borehole to supply water to the school having been drilled and toilets under construction.
The legislator said he has met community leaders including Clr Cde Thamson Lamula Ndou, and that the community is contributing labour and other materials.
“The completion of the projects will address issues of bush boarding where children from the area are going to stay near the secondary schools,” said Cde Ndou.
“Secondary schools in the area are located very far apart, and the unavailability of secondary schools is affecting the transition from primary to secondary level of education.
“The construction of the new secondary school will help the rural girl child by giving them equal opportunity to pursue their dreams.”
Cde Ndou said investing in education infrastructure was key to driving national development and building strong human capital for the future.
He said he has visited the site and engaged the community on the need to speed up the project.
“Another secondary school is also being built in the Limpopo area in Ward 8, Beitbridge West through a public-private partnership between the community, World Vision Zimbabwe, the Government and the Beitbridge Rural District Council,” said the legislator.
“The school already has three completed classroom blocks and one teachers’ cottage, and work is now underway on the fourth block, with the official opening set for soon.
“In addition, paperwork for Limpopo Secondary School is now being processed. This is a modern type of school with water powered by a solar system sponsored by World Vision and the Government.”
He said children would benefit immensely, and that the furniture and other resources required for the modern school had been delivered, and that the teachers’ cottage was almost complete.
The legislator added that the school will reduce the walking distances for children in the area, from Limpopo to Shashe or Limpopo to Swereki, where there are secondary schools.
Cde Ndou said the availability of more secondary schools within a minimum distance will be a relief and minimise issues of the girl child being open to abuse while walking through the bushes.
He said the Government is also supporting the Toporo community in ramping up production at the local Village Business Unit (VBU), and that the project is turning around lives, as the cash crops are doing well.
“We are happy with the VBUs in the constituency, a concept which has been greatly taken on board by the Beitbridge community,” said Cde Ndou.
“As local community leaders, we will continue work with development agencies and the local authority in enabling an infrastructure development program to close the gaps in terms of key amenities.”
The parliamentarian also noted that livestock production, especially of high-value goats, is another project turning around lives in Beitbridge West.
He encouraged sons and daughters of Beitbridge, both within the country and in the diaspora, to combine resources and support the Government as it works on building more schools and clinics to improve the way of life in line with the rural development policy by the Government under President Mnangagwa.
