Online Reporter
Victor Maphosa
Mashonaland East Bureau
The Rotary Club of Harare Central has donated reading books to nine schools in Hwedza district, as the organisation seeks to promote a reading culture and habits amongst learners.
The handover of books was held at Chemhanza High School near Hwedza Centre, an event which was attended by the club members, teachers, learners and the community.
The Rotary Club of Harare Central was led by the club’s president, Mrs Florence Jambwa, who expressed her passion for quality education in schools.
“This is a special occasion that is happening here. I received my education at this school from 1975 and was here until I completed my Form 2. I am happy to see my former classmates present at this function,” she said
“So I feel privileged to come back to this school. Education is important to me. We came here today because we are called Rotarians. Rotarians are found world over. We are more than 1,2 million in the world and in Harare we have 14 clubs and we are called Harare Central.
“We belong to District 92.10, which comprises Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Northern Mozambique. As you are aware, we are in World Literacy Month, and to celebrate this, we are distributing textbooks to various schools.
“This was made possible because of our partnership with Books of Africa. So we are here today to celebrate this day. We just hope this token will go a long way to assist learners and all the schools to benefit. We hope it will make an impact and make a difference.”
She said her wish is for the donation to make an impact on learners.
“We hope learners will be able to benefit from these books. We also want to take this opportunity to wish all Grade 7 candidates a good exam period, and that they will be able to remember everything that they learnt and will pass with flying colors,” she said.
In his remarks, director of communications and advocacy in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Taungana Ndoro, thanked the Rotary Club Harare Central for the gesture.
“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is pleased with the massive donation that has been handed over here, where eight schools have received books from Rotary Club Harare Central,” he said.
“We are pleased that this is World Literacy Month and we are commemorating it, and there is no better way to commemorate that than to donate books, particularly for Early Childhood Education.
“These books are valuable to our pupils in terms of their reading programmes.”
He said that as a ministry, they have noticed that for pupils to be able to pass examinations, the first skill they should master is reading.
“We are happy that this donation will go a long way in ensuring that our children are going to be able to read, pass their examinations and subsequently contribute positively to the socio-economic transformation of the nation,” Mr Ndoro said.
Mr George Kawa, who was representing Chemhanza Primary School, which is one of the beneficiaries, said the donation is going to take the school to a higher level in terms of reading culture.
“I want to thank Rotary Club Harare Central for donating books to our school. This will help us a lot, and thank you for this.”
