adminFrom Blessings Chidakwa in Kadoma
The Mhondoro-Ngezi Rural District Council has started construction of Turf 2 Primary School to decongest Turf 1, which is home to more than 2 200 pupils.
According to officials from the Mhondoro-Ngezi RDC, the teacher to pupil ratio at Turf 1 was no longer sustainable.
This, they said, had resulted in the local authority constructing a new school, starting with two blocks to be temporarily used to accommodate the infant classes from Turf 1.
Council is also planning to build a multi-storey building at the new school.
In a recent interview, Mhondoro-Ngezi RDC chief executive Mr Itai Mawonde said the construction, which is already underway, would be funded from council coffers.
“We have embarked on this project out of realisation that Turf 1 was now overpopulated with pupils and the required Government teacher-pupil ratio was no longer supportable,” he said.
“We tried to offload some of the pupils to nearby private schools, but still the situation remained unbearable. We, therefore, decided to construct Turf 2 Primary School.”
Mr Mawonde said council initially wanted to build the school near a shopping mall, but moved it to Ward 11.
He said council also planned to start lessons at the new school at the opening of the new term.
“So far, to curb the immediate crisis at Turf 1, we have started with constructing two blocks and flush toilets hoping that by May this year the structures would be ready for use,” said Mr Mawonde.
“We have decided that the structures would firstly be used by infants at Turf 1 while the completion of the whole school is in progress.”
Mr Mawonde said only local people were being contracted for the project.
Online Reporter