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international television personality, Oprah Winfrey, commences in the next two weeks.
Eight other neighbouring schools will also benefit from the remainder of the money after the refurbishment and development of Matau Primary School.
Oprah Winfrey, who rose to fame through her popular television shows, made the donation in May this year in fulfilment of the lifetime dream of the rural school’s former pupil, Dr Tererai Trent (nee Mafukidze), who is now based in the United States.
Dr Trend was honoured as Oprah Winfrey show’s all time favourite guest and the personality decided to fulfil her lifetime dream of improving the standards of the rural school and giving it a new look.
Twelve new classrooms, 20 latrines, two staff houses and an administration block will be built at the school, while eight old staff houses and two classrooms will be renovated.
The project would run for three years with ongoing maintenance work and literacy boosting programmes.
Save Children Zimbabwe was tasked with managing the reconstruction work and literacy boosting among other programmes.
The organisation’s acting country director, Ms Sharon Hauser, on Wednesday confirmed receiving the US$1,5 million for the project, saying procurement of building materials was now at an advanced stage. She said work was likely to start in the next two weeks after the groundbreaking ceremony that would be held at the weekend.
“We received the money from the Oprah Winfrey Foundation and we intend to rebuild the school. The school had no furniture and classrooms were old dilapidated making learning uncomfortable for the pupils. After completing work at Matau Primary School, some other eight local schools in the vicinity of that school will also benefit from the grant. Our three-year project is aimed at infrastructure development, literacy boosting and early childhood education. Furniture and stationery would also be availed to the school,” she said.
Ms Hauser said Save the Children would work closely with the Public Works Department and the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture in the project.
She said the school’s pass rate was very low hence the literacy boosting programmes were necessary.
Some regular training and technical support would be rendered to the school during the period in question.
Dr Trent grew up in Matau Village where she dropped out of school after getting married at the age of 11. She bore five children in the early marriage. With the help of people from the village, she made her way to the US in 1998.
While in US, Ms Trent obtained a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture. She studied further and graduated with both a Masters and Doctorate degrees.
During her stay in the US, she had her village at heart and always dreamt affording her folks quality education through development of Matau Primary School.
Online Reporter