Chronicle Editor
Nobukhosi Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
THE Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has donated building materials towards the construction of two teachers’ cottages at a satellite secondary school in Binga in a bid to improve education infrastructure in the district.
The school — Saba Secondary School is an annex of Siansundu Secondary School.
Binga Rural District Council’s Director of Engineering Services, Engineer Zibusiso Moyo commended the ZRA for its gesture saying it would go a long way in improving the living conditions of the teachers.
“Both the children and teachers are beneficiaries of this project and this gesture is a pathway to more productive projects for the school. The project is in line with the Second Republic’s philosophy of leaving no one and no place behind which aims at providing basic services such as education to marginalised areas. The donation from ZRA will go a long way as it will improve the education system of the Saba community,” he said.
Eng Nyoni said the education system in the ward has been suffering due to poor and non-existent infrastructure adding that the coming on board of ZRA was a blessing to the community.
He said Saba Secondary School teachers were living in poor conditions that had started to expose them to the vagaries of harsh weather conditions and even to diseases.
“Teachers were residing in thatched mud huts that they had built for themselves. The thatched roofs were now leaking when it rains and they had become overcrowded since other teachers were staying with their families,” he said.
“With the building of these cottages, staff turnover rates are expected to decrease due to infrastructure improvement. The construction of the staff houses will address the need for quality housing which will add to the staff retention outcome.”
Eng Nyoni said besides building staff cottages, they were working on other projects to improve Saba Secondary School.
“As Binga Rural District Council, we want to provide quality education for children in Binga. We want to build classrooms so that pupils have safe and adequate learning facilities that will lead to increased pass rates and higher enrolments.
“We also want to drill boreholes so that there is supply of safe and potable water at the school to improve sanitation and hygiene. We aim to provide better education for every child for them to improve their communities in the future and projects like these are a great initiative as they are aimed at benefiting future generations,” he said.
Eng Nyoni pleaded with the Government to assist in making the projects a success through timely disbursement of devolution funds and other initiatives.
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