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Canditar Chapanduka, Chronicle Reporter

Mzilikazi High School in Bulawayo yesterday received help from the class of 1982, who donated funds and resources to improve the school’s infrastructure and educational  tools.

The school, which was founded in 1964, has an enrolment of 2 000 pupils, but many of its facilities are old and damaged.

The former pupils donated 15 whiteboards and 180 chairs to the school, with plans to provide more resources in the future. 

Speaking about the donation, school head Mr Bhekokuhle Dube said they were proud of the school’s progress and aimed to produce focused and hardworking learners who will become leaders in all fields. However, due to high enrolment, the school is in need of furniture, lab refurbishments, desktops, and laptops to use in the library. They are also seeking new curriculum textbooks that are more relevant to the subjects they teach. 

“We need to revive the sporting facilities like volleyball and tennis courts that have become dilapidated. There is also a need to revamp our labs, especially the chemistry lab and the biology lab so that we can improve our school pass rates in sciences by offering quality education.

“We have a school enrolment of about 2 000 students and we need infrastructure development so that we build more buildings that will cut ‘hot-sitting’ as it has a lot of negativity among students and it will go a long way to elevate our education,” said Mr Dube. 

The former pupils hope to assist the school by providing these resources and infrastructure, including repairing sporting facilities and revamping labs.

The 1982 class chairman, Mr Alex Marufu, said the group was formed by former learners who realised they could give back to the school that nurtured them. He encouraged others to donate to the school, noting that small things inspire individuals to make a difference. The former learners are donating money from their own pockets and sourcing funds from outsiders.

“We remember during the old days how we would enjoy learning in this school though we did not have access to a lot of things that students nowadays have like computers and tiled floors so, we are noticing a lot of improvement in the school. We then decided to form a group which has 47 members and we are here to give back,” said Mr Marufu.

“This is a humble beginning; it reflects the love we have for our school and we hope that it will motivate other former learners to contribute to the development of this valuable school. We managed to repair 180 broken chairs and we bought 15 white boards so that the school can move with the times and teachers and learners can use whiteboards instead of chalkboards that release a lot of dust which affects some learners,” he said.

The former learners hope that the resources they provide will help to produce better results from learners and allow them to have adequate resources for effective and efficient education. They plan to donate more laptops and tablets in future, moving with the times to provide learners with the tools they need to succeed. 

Mr Lubinda Mathe, a member of the class of 1982 volunteered to install the whiteboards. He encouraged learners to continue keeping the good standards of Mzilikazi High.

Mzilikazi High School class of ‘82

“Our wish is to see more learners from this school succeed and become influential professionals in different facets of the country as they must take their education more seriously regardless of some of the factors that they might face because we also managed to pass and became successful in the same school,” he said.

Another former pupil, Mr Bhekumuzi Dhlodhlo said they have a vision of replacing the classroom single doors with double ones.

“We are also looking forward to helping with the sporting activities as it is also another curriculum under the arts department in the school. We are mostly concerned about the school’s soccer team because even during our days the team was doing very well and it was excelling to an extent of going out of the country for competitions. However, we are not neglecting other sporting activities so we will also assist,” said Mr Dhlodhlo. — @NomqheleC