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Leonard Ncube, Sunday News Reporter
HERENTALS Group of Colleges and Schools could be the first lower learning institution to own a top-flight soccer club in domestic football.
This is after Herentals Football Club, competing in the Zifa Division One Northern Region, earned the ticket to play in the Premier Soccer League with 64 points from 27 matches, a distance from second-placed Blue Swallows who have 42 points from the same number of games with seven matches remaining.
The team was formed in 2015 and finished second last year. The group also sponsors a D2 soccer club and a women’s soccer team as a way of ploughing back to the community and improving talent.
This is one of the achievements the group of colleges has made since its inception in 1998, where it now boasts of 30 secondary schools, nine primaries and three pre-schools distributed across the country to become arguably the largest learning institution.
Ten of the secondary schools were opened this year with the Victoria Falls branch one of them. There is a fleet of 78 buses to ferry pupils. Last week, the Victoria Falls branch held its first-ever speech and prize-giving ceremony at a colourful ceremony held at Chinotimba Hall.
The principal Mr Tavonga Chisuva Hungwe said Herentals represents success as shown by the way the institution has embraced the new curriculum and its relationship with the community around it.
The theme for the occasion which was attended by parents and representatives from other schools in the resort town was: “Our year of fortification, growth and rebranding.”
“At Herentals we operate as a system which is a combination of parts that are connected together to form the entire organisation hence everyone is important.
“To come to Victoria Falls we considered demand for our brand as we also continued checking our enrolment in other centres. We think we are improving in terms of meeting our target to be the best centre for learning which we hope to achieve next year. For now I can say maybe we are at 60 percent towards meeting that,” he said.
The Victoria Falls branch which is located in the industrial site along Pioneer Road, has nine teachers and five non-teaching staff with an enrolment of 250 pupils.
Mr Hungwe said he is proud to lead a branch whose performance is growing by each day as shown by the quality of results of pupils who scooped prizes on Friday.
The school has represented the country in debate competitions held in Zambia a few months ago while it has also excelled in sports.
“Herentals Victoria Falls branch is doing very well as far as sport is concerned. We encourage parents to motivate their children to participate in sporting activities. We have a viable learning disciplined environment with qualified teachers and these awards are based on records of performance.
“As for extracurricular activities we do have talent show comprising drama, dancing, lip singing, modelling, poetry and others. Our debate club represented Zimbabwe in Zambia.
Offering a wide range of core subjects, Herentals is the place to enrol a child as its mission is to ensure the success of all our students through quality, excellence and integrity on educational delivery system.
The school’s vision is to become the first choice provider of high quality tuition in the global village, maybe represented in the fact that the institution is found in most major towns in the country.
Mr Hungwe said Herentals’ achievements are manifest in a number of accolades the institution has won over the years.
It recently scooped the College of the Year and Businessperson of the Year accolades at the Zimbabwe Business Awards to add to the best and largest group of colleges in Zimbabwe, an award it won last year.
It was also voted Zimbabwe Top College of the Year, Zimbabwe Top Leadership Excellence while its chief executive Dr Innocent Dambudzo Benza won the Top Business and Academic Leader of the Year award in 2016.
The motto is “with Herentals you rise and rise.”
Mr Hungwe said plans are underway to acquire a piece of land from Victoria Falls Municipality to build own premises as they are currently renting.
He said while a computer lab is already there, efforts are being made to establish a fully furnished library especially considering that there is no public library in Victoria Falls.
However, the branch faces challenges of non-payment of fees by pupils, which Mr Hungwe said is caused by among other things, the fact that most learners stay with guardians as parents are abroad.
He however, said some were making efforts to pay while the college will always encourage them to pay up.
He said the prize-giving was a huge success.
Guest of honour Evangelist Tenson Mangwinyana, who is a Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education specialist in guidance and counselling challenged pupils to value time.
He said parents also have a role to play in monitoring their children as well as trusting them in whatever they do so as to encourage them in life.
“Guest parents, let’s trust our children but we should monitor them. As for the children, you should be disciplined and make most of the time that you have because every minute of time is important in preparation for your future,” he said.
The school closely works with other schools around as well as non-governmental organisations such as United Children of Africa.- @ncubeleon
derick.khumalo