The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu recently in Mberengwa
SCHOOLS and the community of Mberengwa East have benefited from a donation of library books worth $200 000 extended to them by the National Libraries and Documentation Services (NLDS) in a bid to cultivate a reading culture in both learners and community members.
NLDS is a branch of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and it gave the reading material to Ngungumbane Primary and Secondary, Batanai, Jena and Bayai Primary Schools. The handover was held at Ngungumbane Primary School at a time the school recorded an increase in their Grade Seven pass rate from 38 percent to 50 percent. Chief Ngungumbane, who received the books and handed them over to the schools said it was a first in his area of jurisdiction.
“It is my pleasure to witness this event as it is one of its kind in the history of Mberengwa, I am happy that it is happening in my area and that three of my schools are getting the books. I would like to request the teachers to utilise the books to unlock the potentials of the learners,” he said.
The chief said learners were going to benefit from this gesture and use the resources in support of competence-based skills under the new curriculum. Mr Lewis Mukucha, the deputy director at NLDS said they had changed their thrust and want the reading culture to be extended to communities.
“We want these books to benefit the learners and the community at large. The concept of community libraries that we have introduced has the objective of ensuring that we achieve literacy for the whole village and not just the school child. Children copy what they see, if the parent at home is reading, they will grow up with that same reading culture,” he said.
He said the donation to the Ngungumbane community was a first as the institution has not given any libraries in the Midlands books yet, they have been to Matabeleland North and South provinces. Mr Mukucha said they were in the process of training teacher librarians in the country so that they know how to run libraries and maintain the books that had been extended to them by NLDS.
He further said there was a need to have more community libraries throughout the provinces as they strive to empower communities as a whole.
The schools’ representatives said they were indebted to Chief Ngungumbane for the assistance he had given to them and that they would strive to see learners doing better in their studies.
The District Schools Inspector (DSI) for Mberengwa East, Mrs Beauty Bhebhe, said the donation was timely and that it would improve literacy in the community.
She praised Ngungumbane Primary School for having functional nutrition gardens and poultry projects.
Mrs Bhebhe also expressed gratitude to Chief Ngungumbane for his efforts in electrifying the school and have piped water which had led to teacher retention.
She, however, bemoaned low pupil enrolment.
“We have 144 pupils at the primary school, we are hoping that they increase and enable the school to develop further as the current school fees is inadequate. Parents also are delaying in paying the required fees but we encourage them to pay their dues so that the school grows,” said Mrs Bhebhe.
Chief Ngungumbane urged NLDS to spread their wings further and supply books to other areas of the Midlands Province.
He was also quick to highlight that the whole community was in need of food to avert the effects of drought.
The chief also said they have been buying supplementary feeding for their livestock which was not sustainable with the current cost of the feed.
