adminThe Herald, March 17, 1980
THE establishment of an evening school at the University of Rhodesia to teach O and A Level subjects has fulfilled the desire of staff members to involve themselves in community action, says the chairman of the committee responsible for the school’s formation, the Rev Dr Temba Mafico.
The school, which offers evening tuition at O and A Level in subjects such as biblical studies, biology, general science, mathematics, Shona and English, economics and physics and chemistry, will be formally opened by the principal of the University, Professor Leonard Lewis tomorrow.
The school is being staffed voluntarily by lecturers, senior students and post graduate students and has an enrolment of 150.
So far, 140 of the places have been taken, mainly by employees of the university wishing to further their academic studies, Dr Mafico said.
The non-profit school had plans for expansion and had already been approached by the Ministry of Education to consider taking pupils nominated by it for further tuition.
As well as holding the courses at the University, pupils would be examined there at the end of the year. The committee was also hoping to start a “limited degree programme” by extension studies to assist people who had the right qualifications for university but could not actually attend it in person.
The cost of tuition had been kept to only $5 a person a year to cover administrative costs and to assist in the purchase of text books, Dr Mafico said.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
In 1980, Zimbabwe was faced with a major challenge of ensuring that all the people deprived of educational opportunities because of the liberation struggle, attained desirable qualifications that would produce some educated personnel required for economic development.
Government came up with well-crafted educational policies that ensured that all the people whose educational careers had been disrupted by the liberation war (war veterans included), would go back to school. This resulted in a massive national adult education programme run by most Government schools, in both urban and rural areas.
For many years, the University of Zimbabwe was among the public institutions that ran an evening school that was attended some Members of Parliament and Cabinet Ministers, school heads, among others.
Evening schools were not only attended by war veterans, but anyone who wanted to improve their educational qualifications; by people who felt that they were too old to attend normal schooling; and, by people who would be formally employed during the day.
Apart from evening schools, Government also ensured the expansion of secondary education by building high schools (upper top), adjacent to primary schools. The growth of the school system resulted in the expansion of tertiary institutions.
The radical policies by the Dzingai Mutumbuka-led Education Ministry provided learning opportunities to all the people. This resulted in a high literacy rate.
The Covid-19 pandemic requires radical policies as those adopted in the early ‘80s, so that the country remains globally competitive in the education sector.
Online Reporter