adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
THE learning environment for pupils in Mzwanyana Secondary School who were sitting on the floor is set to improve after they received chairs.A neighbouring school, Thekwane High School, recently donated chairs and desks to the school which has an enrolment of 95 pupils.
The high school also pledged to offer more furniture to Mzwanyana Secondary School.
Speaking at a furniture presentation ceremony, National House of Assembly Member for Bulilima West Cde Lungisani Nleya appealed to established schools in the district to assist emerging schools.
“If a single school is not functioning properly in the area for whatever reasons then the whole district becomes affected. We have a number of schools that are sprouting around the district and many that are now well established.
“There is a lot which can be done by old schools to ensure that new ones also perform better. Through concerted effort the status of a number of schools in the district can be improved,” he said.
“Pupils in new schools should not learn sitting on the floor while well established schools have furniture which is lying idle. I would like to acknowledge the initiative by Thekwane High School to give away chair frames and have them refurbished into the chairs that we see here today.”
He urged stakeholders from the district to address the plight of children who wish to learn from proper environments.
“The initiative by community members of building more schools within the district is very good because its main purpose is to reduce distances walked by children. So the little we can do is to support this initiative,” said Mr Nleya.
Bulilima Rural District Council chief executive officer Mr John Brown Ncube said acquiring furniture was a huge step towards ensuring that Mzwanyana Secondary pupils were exposed to a proper learning environment.
Some pupils from the school have been learning while sitting on the floor while other pupils have been carrying their own chairs or buckets from their homesteads.
Other pupils used bricks as chairs.
Before the school was constructed in Nyele Ward, some pupils from the ward walked more than 20 kilometres to the nearest school in the neighbouring ward.
derick.khumalo