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Prof Paul Mavhima

Loveness Bepete Chronicle Reporter
THE country is operating with a deficit of 2,056 schools, a development that has been blamed for the poor pass rates.
Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Professor Paul Mavhima told Chronicle the country needed 1,252 primary schools and 87 secondary schools to ease congestion at existing schools.

He said the schools would eliminate hot seating, reduce distance walked by some pupils and provide an appropriate learning environment for children facing difficulties under satellite schools.

Prof Mavhima said satellite schools were those not properly registered due to various reasons and operated under another school’s name.

He told Chronicle some pupils travelled up to 24 kilometres daily to the nearest school which was not recommended by the government.

“Primary schools should at most, be five kilometres apart. Secondary schools can be up to 10 kilometres away from where pupils stay. Pupils should not travel 24km like some children are doing,” said Prof Mavhima.

He said pupils needed to learn in an environment with adequate infrastructure as it assisted in yielding good results.

“Pupils need to have the best learning environment in order to perform well at school and the ministry is striving to offer the best education opportunities.”

He said the government was committed to improving learning conditions but economic factors made it difficult for the ministry to meet its targets.

According to a breakdown of school infrastructure requirements per province, Bulawayo has the least number of congested schools with 17 primary schools and 14 secondary schools and Mashonaland West has the highest number of schools operating under satellite, recording 210 primary and 159 secondary schools.

“Bulawayo has three primary and six secondary schools under satellite schools and needs 20 new primary and nine secondary schools to solve the problem of hot seating.”

He said the country needed a total of 349 schools to remove hot seating.

In June this year, Prof Mavhima said that some pupils were learning in tobacco barns, while others were learning under trees with no furniture.

He said a total of 1,500 satellite schools required massive rehabilitation.