The Sunday News
Lackson Munkombwe, Sunday News Reporter
BINGA High School is set to become the first Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) centre in the district, as the school has completed setting up required infrastructure for the exercise.
Binga Education Officer Mr Edson Masungo said enrolling of pupils will start next year.
“We have engaged Government to assist us with equipment to finalise on the construction.
“We had hoped to start enrolling pupils this year but we realised that there is still more to be done.
“We need to secure apparatus, to make the building usable and ensure that there is safety around the environment before we can allow pupils to learn.”
He said STEM pupils will be enrolled next year at the school, a situation which will help a lot of learners who had all along been travelling long distances to other districts to pursue science subjects.
“We arranged that most pupils who passed sciences including Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology be taken into other places like Hwange, and Bulawayo, in schools where they are offering STEM at A-level, so that they benefit from the Government-funded programme,” said Mr Masungo.
He said there was an improvement on the number of pupils who passed sciences this year.
“We noticed a significant number of pupils who passed sciences at Ordinary Level at schools including Lusulu, Kariyangwe, Tinde and Binga High.
“We are looking forward to an improvement next year as a lot of learners are finding interests in doing the subjects,” said Mr Masungo.
He pleaded with the Government to help with resources and construction of science labs at various schools so that pupils have proper learning facilities at a tender age so that they fully understand the curriculum both practically and theoretically.
The Government has said pupils registering for Advanced Level science subjects at public schools this year will have their fees and boarding fees paid for by Zimdef.
Zimdef said it had set aside $4 million for the scheme.
