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the vision and aspirations of liberation heroes, Vice President Joice Mujuru has said.
She said studying the country’s political history would improve the pupils’ decision making and judgment.
VP Mujuru made the remarks in a speech read on her behalf by Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu while opening the Nqobile and Makomborero Nduna Memorial Hostel at Eiffel Flats Primary School in Kadoma yesterday.
The US$65 000 hostel was funded by Kadoma businessman Mr Dexter Nduna in memory of his children Nqobile (7) and Makomborero (3), who died in a car accident in August. “The children should know where they came from, where they are and what they will be in the future,” VP Mujuru said.
“For this to be achievable, teachers should educate the children about the revolution and its leaders. We have fathers of the revolutionary process and their visions and aspirations can only be upheld if we conscientise the children now.”
VP Mujuru urged Zimbabweans to guard jealously the gains made in the education sector since independence.
“The children are the future of this nation and we have registered tremendous growth in the education sector since 1980,” she said.
“We now have to consolidate the gains and guide our children so that they do not betray the ideals many liberation icons died in pursuit of.”
VP Mujuru said during the colonial era, education was a preserve of the elite, but the coming of independence saw many black people having access.
“No black child was allowed at schools such as this one (Eiffel Flats),” she said.
“It was preserved for whites only but now everyone is free to enroll at the school despite race and we can not let such a gain slip away.”
Infrastructure at many schools, VP Mujuru said, lacked maintenance and needed support from Government and private partners.
Mr Nduna said education was a vital empowerment tool, hence the construction of the hostel.
“Some of us attained education the hard way as we had to walk for long distances to school,” he said.
“After experiencing this, our children should be beneficiaries of all our struggles and as such I do not want my children or those that I come in contact with to go through that same rocky route.”
Eiffel Flats Primary School started with an enrolment of eight white students in 1922, but it now has an enrolment of over 140 black pupils. The school offers boarding and day school facilities.
Meanwhile, Minister Shamu has urged parents and guardians to pay their children’s levies and tuition fees for the development of schools countrywide.
In a speech read on his behalf by an official in his ministry during a prize giving ceremony at Cam and Motor Primary School in Kadoma yesterday, Minister Shamu said school development would be possible if parents and school administrators pull in the same direction.
“Parents should always strive to ensure their children’s levies are settled on time as this will provide enough funds to support various projects schools would be carrying,” he said.
“There is need for classroom blocks to be built at this school to do away with hot sitting. This is only possible if there is unity among stakeholders.”
Minister Shamu said a conducive learning environment would result in good pass rates.
Mhondoro Ngezi district education officer Dr Nyika Gundu said the district was having challenges in eradicating the zero percent pass rate being registered by some schools in the district.
Online Reporter