Online Reporter
Walter Nyamukondiwa in NYABIRA
PRIVATE schools are helping to ease a 215-school deficit in Mashonaland West as the Government turns to private-sector investment to complement its efforts to expand access to quality education.
The province needs 100 primary and 115 secondary schools, making investments such as the more than US$4 million Lord Brighton College in Nyabira, Zvimba District, increasingly important in decongesting public schools.
Speaking during an investment familiarisation visit to the college, Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Marian Chombo said the project demonstrated how local private investment could contribute to human capital development and economic growth.
“This project is wholly owned by a Zimbabwean, thereby supporting the national mantra, ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’ and ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’,” she said.
“We are building the future of Zimbabwe through human capital development here at Lord Brighton College.”
Primary and Secondary Education Chief Director for Mashonaland West, Mrs Rebecca Gora, said private schools were playing an important role in reducing pressure on Government institutions.
“Private schools are helping in decongesting Government schools, and we would like to commend them,” she said.
She, however, urged private institutions to comply with registration and other regulatory requirements.
Built on 10 hectares, Lord Brighton College admitted its first learners in 2025 following 14 months of construction that began in 2023. Its first classes are sitting for public examinations this year.
The school offers both day and boarding facilities and has interactive boards, an innovation centre, music, arts and culture facilities, dual science laboratories, a computer laboratory and a 1 000-seater conference hall.
Minister Chombo said the investment was entirely self-financed by the family that owns the college.
School director Mr Brighton Manengureni said the family deliberately chose to invest its own resources in the project.
“We did not get loans; we disposed of something to build something,” he said.
The college employs 72 people, mainly locals, apart from contractors, while also offering bursaries to children from the surrounding communities.
Mr Manengureni said the institution hoped to establish a university specialising in information and communication technology and agriculture.
Chief executive officer Mr Douglas Mashore said the college sought to develop academically strong and responsible learners capable of contributing to national development.
“Manners are portable,” he said, adding that teachers were guided by the motto “hakuna mwana anofoira”.
With the right attention and motivation, he said, every child had the potential to succeed.
The school currently has a teacher-learner ratio of 1:10 and intends to expand enrolment while maintaining individual attention to learners.
Robotics is part of the curriculum, with learners developing models aimed at addressing challenges in sectors such as agriculture, while swimming is compulsory.
Minister Chombo said the investment was also contributing to the province’s infrastructure development as urban expansion from Harare increasingly reached Nyabira.
“Harare is expanding to Nyabira. The new city needs modern infrastructure. Well done, Lord Brighton College,” she said.
She described the project as an example of economic devolution, saying communities should increasingly have access to quality services without having to depend on other provinces.
“Quality education has been brought to our doorstep, with no need to outsource from other provinces,” she said.
The minister said the college was open to financiers and other investors as the owners sought to expand the institution.
Another entrepreneur in education, Councillor Ruzai Muchaurawo, said the school had utilised space by combining junior school and high school.
Zvimba East Member of Parliament Cde Kudakwashe Manhanzva hailed the school for giving locals opportunities to learn through bursaries and discounts.
