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Sihlengeni Primary School headmaster Mr Sibanga Ncube (centre) and Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Dr Lazarus Dokora shake hands as they pose for a photograph with other delegates after receiving the Unesco sustainable development award won by the school in Paris recently

Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
A SCHOOL in Matabeleland South has become the first in the world to win the Unesco sustainable development award.

Sihlengeni Primary School made history as previous recipients of the award have been Non-Governmental Organisations and universities.

The school, in Umzingwane District, got a $50 000 first prize for a sustainability project that it has been running for the past 22 years.

Sihlengeni Primary School headmaster, Mr Sibanga Ncube, said he was overwhelmed by the honour that the school received and had never expected that the school would get to the final stage of the competition.

The school won the Secretary’s Bell merit award for 2016, following one that they also bagged in 2006.

Chief Sigola, speaking at a small celebration at the school to welcome the school head and the parents’ committee chairperson, Mr Moses Lusaba from

France where the awards were held, said he was happy that the school from a humble community had represented the nation and Africa at a global platform.

“I am very proud of this good that has come from my community. This is testimony of the fact that hard work pays. This is a 1995 project, and it has won this prestigious fight because of the hard work of the head, his staff and the community. Our country has been put in the limelight and our flag flies high. I am proud,” said Chief Sigola.

Ward 2 councillor, Mrs Shumirai Nkiwane, hailed the school for working well with the community.

“The staff at the school work well with the parents and general community and this is very good for the harmony that is in this place. I urge them to keep up with this spirit of engaging the traditional, administrative and political leadership as good relations have led to teamwork which has taken us this far as a community,” said the councillor.

The winning project was started in 1995 after the school received training in permaculture, a system of agricultural and social design, which draws on patterns and features in the natural ecosystem to develop and maintain the environment.

Learners, parents and teachers at Sihlengeni Primary School plant exotic and indigenous trees, grass, millet and maize. They also introduced ground cover to mitigate land degradation and deforestation. They have rehabilitated a forest and also kept chickens and pigs. Some of the food produced is used to feed infants with the rest being sold locally, reads part of a statement on the Unesco website.

Speaking from Paris at the Unesco headquarters, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Lazarus Dokora said the award was a confirmation of the brilliance of the country’s education system.

“This award is an excellent confirmation of the brilliance of our education system. They spoke very well about our education system on the world stage. Those outspoken in criticism of our system are now licking their wounds,” said the Minister.

He said the ministry was being praised by other education ministries across Africa.— @andile_tshuma.