Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
MATABELELAND South needs at least 400 more secondary schools to ensure that pupils walk reasonable distances to learning institutions, an education official has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the official opening of Gwambe Secondary School in Bulilima yesterday Deputy Provincial Education Director for secondary and non-formal education, Rueben Mabhena said the province had over 500 primary schools and only 150 secondary schools.

He said the province had over 200,000 pupils and secondary school pupils accounted for almost a third of the figure.

He said the huge disparity meant that a number of pupils in the province were failing to progress to secondary school after completing their primary education.

Mabhena said more primary schools were also needed but secondary pupils were the worst affected.

“The policy states that there should be a secondary school within a radius of 15 kilometres but this isn’t the case. There’s still a need of more secondary schools as a number of Grade 7 graduates aren’t progressing to secondary level because of long distances they walk to school.

“A challenge faced when establishing schools is that some areas are sparsely populated and it’s difficult to open a school and have enough children to enrol at those schools,’’ said Mabhena.

He said of the existing primary schools more than 50 were not registered while 50 more secondary schools were not registered as they were still substandard.

Mabhena said for schools to be registered they had to meet the minimum standards set by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

He said schools which were unregistered had less than four classroom blocks and a shortage of teachers’ accommodation.

He said each school was required to have at least six classroom blocks and four cottages for teachers.

“Another challenge that we have as a province is that schools are there in existence but they don’t have resources and facilities required in schools such as laboratories, libraries and home economics rooms,’’ he said.

Mabhena said the bulk of secondary schools that were teaching science did not have laboratories and specialist rooms.

He said the Ministry had secured science kits for each secondary school through Unicef but the material was lying idle as schools did not have laboratories.

Addressing school authorities, Mabhena said they had to ensure that they equipped their schools and not focus on building classroom blocks and increasing enrolment figures. He said a school was not just the building which children learn from but a structure that had necessary equipment to aid learning.

He urged pupils to desist from vandalising school property.

Gwambe Secondary School headmaster, Sudden Paganga said they had finished constructing the school’s second classroom block bringing the number of classrooms to four.

He said the school had an enrolment of 187 pupils and staff complement of six teachers and three administrative staff members who comprised himself, the deputy head and school clerk.

He said the teachers and the administration members were supposed to teach Form 1 to Form 4 classes.

Paganga said the school was not able to accommodate all pupils and as a result the Form 1 and 2 classes were learning from a nearby primary school.

He said there was a shortage of accommodation for teachers and some were being housed at the primary school.

In a speech read on his behalf by Bulilima District Administrator Ethel Moyo, the Minister of Provincial Affairs in Matabeleland South Abednico Ncube said some pupils were being raped on their way to and from school because of long distances they had to travel.

He urged all rural communities to initiate school building projects in their areas.

Gwambe Secondary School was established in 2011 as an annexure to Sikhathini Secondary.

Establishment of the school came as a huge relief as children from the area were walking more than 15 kilometres to get to the nearest school while others were not attending school at all upon completing their primary education because of long distances.

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