adminPamela Shumba Chronicle Reporter
STAKEHOLDERS who include parents and non-government organisations have been called upon to complement Government efforts to improve infrastructure and the availability of resources at rural schools. In an interview on the sidelines of the Matabeleland North Education Stakeholders Forum in Bulawayo on Monday, the deputy provincial education director Mr Mathias Luphahla said stakeholders should work with Government to improve infrastructure as well as availability of resources at rural schools.
“Our schools in Matabeleland North, especially satellite schools are facing many challenges that include poor infrastructure, lack of resources and a shortage of teachers.
“Although schools got textbooks from the Education Transition Fund (ETF), not all subjects were sponsored by the fund. We are therefore still facing textbook shortage at many schools,” said Mr Luphahla.
He said some of the schools had no science laboratories, electricity and clean water.
Mr Luphahla said teachers were shunning the schools because of poor infrastructure.
“Teachers are walking long distances to satellite schools because the areas are not being serviced by public transport because of poor state of the roads. We are therefore calling on stakeholders to work with the ministry to address some of these challenges,” he said.
Mr Luphahla said the objective of the Matabeleland Education Stakeholders Forum was to bring stakeholders and the ministry together and come up with strategies to address challenges facing the education sector in the province in order to improve the quality of education.
“The objective of this forum is to discuss the challenges that we are facing as a province. As the ministry we present our challenges and plans to the stakeholders so that they see where they can assist and also avoid duplication.
“Some of the stakeholders that we have today include World Vision, Orap, Rural Libraries Association, Rural Electrification Agency, Edward Ndlovu Memorial Trust, Plan and Super Care Hygiene. We also have representatives from Zimbabwe Teachers Association, Progressive Teachers Union and School Development Committees, representing the parents. The National Association of School Heads is also represented,” said Mr Luphahla.
He said he was happy with the high turnout of stakeholders, who were also concerned about the children that are dropping out of school and the poor performance at public examinations by many schools in the province.
The ministry recently launched a back to school programme for school dropouts is working with stakeholders to identify children to benefit from the programme.
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