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seems to be a deeply entrenched and disturbing mindset that says local is not “lekka”.
Here is why. The same week that the centennial celebrations of the March 8 International Women’s Day were held, the Forbes 500 billionaires list was also released.
It was the biggest story everywhere, and the local media could not miss these rich pickings.
The Ministry of Education, Art, Sports and Culture also released the 2010 Rank Order List for Ordinary and Advanced levels results, i.e. the top ten best schools in each category.
For O-Level, they were: Nyanga High; Monte Cassino Girls High; Daramombe Secondary; Kriste Mambo; St Ignatius; Hartzell High; John Tallack in Bulawayo; St Faith; St Dominics (Chishawasha) and Shungu High in Kwekwe.
The best 10 at Advanced level were: Monte Cassino and St Dominics; Zaka High; Marange High; Daramombe; Mwenezi High; Emmanuel; Lundi Secondary; Musengezi High and Mazowe Boys.
Three girls’ secondary schools – Monte Cassino, Kriste Mambo and St Dominic’s (Chishawasha) – led the pack in producing the best O-Level results. Monte Cassino and St Dominics were again the only two girls’ secondary schools that shared the number slot for A-Level.
These impressive results dove tailed with the 2011 International Women’s Day theme: “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: pathway to decent work for women”.
Reflecting on these major achievements, I turned to a book I always use as a ready reference source, Elizabeth Schmidt’s Peasants, Traders and Wives: Shona Women in the History of Zimbabwe, 1870-1939.
As I read the section on women’s social invisibility then, I realised the folly of misinterpreting and misrepresenting indigenous knowledge systems and that in some cases as women we contribute to that invisibility.
Schmidt writes, “When the Jesuit father, A Hartmann, visited the Shona chief Chipanga in about 1891 he asked the chief how numerous his people were, including women and children.
The old chief answered, “Women are not counted”. He then took a handful of dust from the ground and said, “That is the woman”. Hartmann concluded that among the Shona, “women are regarded as almost non-existent”.
But is that the case, and was it ever the case? Dust represents creation, and women are central to that responsibility, and creation in various ways and manners. It is a task they cannot delegate.
Despite the many obstacles that Zimbabwean women have faced in the past century, which have been well reported, Schmidt highlights issues which make it easy to understand why women’s seem negligible in areas like science, mathematics and technology.
These are historical factors that should make it very important to not only highlight the top 10 schools, but also celebrate young women’s achievements in a very competitive arena dominated by the boy child.
That knowledge also demystifies the thinking that used to prevail then that missionary education for women and girls would result in the “domestication of African women”.
The top-ranked girls’ schools are mission schools, whose fore-runners were women missionaries.
Some of the notable points in Schmidt’s book are:
lMissionary education instilled in both boys and girls such values as hard work, discipline and obedience to authority. However, boys alone were taught to be breadwinners, household heads, and figures of authority. Girls in contrast, learned that it was their duty to stay at home, cooking and cleaning, raising healthy Christian children and respecting and obeying their husbands.
l In 1936, when the Jesuits were considering a plan for African secondary school education, the investigating committee “strongly recommend(ed) the exclusion of females from the scheme”.
lSecondary school education should be for boys only . . . because “the education of girls is, first of all, in the home and close home contacts are essential to her”. (But isn’t it amazing that seven decades later, women are not only in secondary school, they have gone to institutions of higher learning and entered domains that initially were for whites, and later for both black and white males. And, they are posting amazing results every year.)
lThe point of teaching girls English was also a bone of contention. In the 1910s and 1920s at Chishawasha (where St Dominics is now), only boys learnt English because “missionaries did not want the girls to learn English because they thought girls would become prostitutes and not get married”.
lThe girls’ parents also refused that they learn English “because it was believed that if they did, they would definitely go and work and become prostitutes”. And, much more!
But fifty years later the girls and women have proved that education has to be mainstreamed and that they are equally capable as their male counterparts.
For Monte Cassino Girls High in Macheke, International Women’s Day offered triple celebrations: number one for A-Level results; second best O-Level results and golden jubilee in 2011.
According to Sr Martina Gwavava CPS, the 2010 A-Level class had “100 percent pass rate with two students getting 18 points (the former head girl and her assistant); two students getting 15 points and a good number with 14 points.
O-Level had 99 percent pass rate, with 6 students getting 11As each, 14 getting 10 each and a good majority hovering between 9 and 10 points”.
Apart from the 2010 results it was the first girls secondary school to produce the first commercial pilot (Captain Emilia Njovani); the first black woman physiotherapist and the first black woman nutritionist – all science and technology disciplines.
A brief history of the school and its and accomplishments amid a myriad of challenges will show how far women’s education has come, and what lies ahead. This is a history that can be replicated to other institutions.
Sr Martina said, “A committed, dedicated staff and head take leadership in the educational process by word and example.”
She added: “The story of Monte Cassino as an education centre dates back to 1902 when the Marianhill missionaries came into the country and established Monte Cassino as one of the out-stations of Marianhill mission, South Africa . . .
During the period 1956 -1963, a domestic science training course was offered, again to girls only, with Sr Herbetis Haslin as the head of department.
“During that time, there was a growing awareness for the education of the girl-child and boarding schools were becoming important areas for education. Domestic science training phased out due to lack of student enrolment. By then, the Jesuit priests and the missionary sisters of the Precious Blood embarked on building board facilities for girls and completed initial structures at the end of 1960.”
“In January 1961, Monte Cassino Secondary School opened its doors to the first applicants from the girls’ section of its co-educational primary school with Sr Wilfriedis Kippes as its first headmistress. Sr Sturmia Denk CPS was co-foundress of the secondary school.”
“Together with the Jesuit Fathers, the two sisters suggested and supervised the construction of the current Forms 1 to 3 dormitories and ablution blocks (1962), the current dining hall with central school kitchen (1963), swimming pool (1966), the administration block, current junior science laboratories and Form 4 classroom block (1970) . . . “
During the liberation struggle, the school was not spared. In 1978 it had to close down, but the authorities relocated it to Highfield in Harare.
Said Sr Martina, “During those troubled times . . . the headmistress was Sister Praxedis Becker CPS. She was supported by Sr Marie Yvonne Frostl and Sr Sturmia Denk. The school returned to its original location in May 1980 after Independence.”
As a former student and now one of the leaders, Sr Martina proudly said, “Since its inception, the academic results of Monte Cassino at O-Level were remarkable.
“By 1988 there was pressure to expand into A-Level studies. With Sr Praxedis at the helm, the A-level hostel complex was constructed and by 2000, Monte Cassino became a High School when it opened its doors to returning students for Form 5.
“By then, Sr Praxedis had long been replaced, first by Mr Caspar Mari Muzenda, then by Mr Johannes Chingonzoh. The streak of academic excellence continued into A-Level, and students were assured of success after their six years of secondary school at Monte Cassino: thanks to the presence of Precious Blood Sisters and the dedicated staff.”
Sr Martina also said that the school’s high performance was not affected by the hyper-inflation of 2007-2008: ” . . . Sr Helen Chave CPS was the headmistress, and no inflation touched the good academic record of Monte Cassino. The current headmistress, Sr Monica Maparura, continues the tradition of academic excellence.”
On February 26, Monte Cassino’s pioneer students endorsed Schmidt’s observations and Sr Martina’s brief historical account when they sang the Monte anthem at a memorial service of the school’s co-founder, Sr Sturmia:
From all parts of Zimbabwe
To Macheke we have come
From city, bush and compound
Most joyfully we have come
Oh what is the attraction?
Oh what allures us at home?
Oh are we crazy, crazy one
Oh are we crazy, crazy one and all?
Oh we are not crazy
We are the wisest of the wise
We want to become graduates
And then we help our people
Their standards we shall raise
Till all the world the praises shall proclaim
May we all achieve our aim
Now here at Macheke
It’s the girls’ academy
For girls alone imagine!
Oh its wonderful indeed
We learn to be Christians
Clean and neat, polite and gay
To be cultured
Yes in every way, to be ladies always!
This is an anthem that could be sung at any girls’ school. But the question is, are women who have had opportunities to get good education, training and top-level jobs in both the public and private sectors, walking the talk?
How much have they given back to these institutions, starting from primary school? When so many have been fortunate, why do we still see schools like Monte Cassino appealing for donations to renovate the age-old buildings?
Why don’t we ever hear of long-standing alumni organisations of these schools? Kutama, maybe because of President Mugabe has Kutama Old Boys Association.
sBut how many luminaries that passed through that school are giving back willingly?
Apart from being a leader and teacher, President Mugabe is also a man of letters. His Government’s policies on education and women empowerment have done a lot in advancing the education of the girl child.
Maybe it was in this mind that Monte Casino’s pioneer students remarked that they would a petition to the President so that teachers like Sr Sturmia Denk who dedicated their whole lives to the education of Zimbabwean women are given due recognition.
As Sr Martina remarked, they were prepared “to face challenges that go beyond mere duty and hence make the world a better place for themselves and other people . . . “
Indeed, we should celebrate billionaires and millionaires, but we are raising them in our midst, and it’s time we recognise their potential, for they are the future.
We congratulate the schools’ leadership and the girls and boys who raised Zimbabwe’s flag academically in 2010.
tendai.manzvanzvike @zimapapers.co.zw