The Sunday News
Thobekile Khumalo, Sunday News Reporter
LIKE the motto states “ips scientia potestas est” meaning knowledge itself is power. Northlea High School has managed to maintain its status for the past 67 years despite the new curriculum that was introduced last year.
Speaking during the Prize Giving Day on Friday, the headmaster of the school, Mr Peter Bekithemba Gambiza, said like any other school in the country the school last year wrote the first examinations of the new curriculum for Ordinary and Advanced levels.
“Although the school has faced challenges like other schools, we have managed to soldier on and offer quality education with a pass rate that is increasing. Last year the school had an average pass rate of 72,72 percent in A-level and 33,6 percent in O-level,” he said.
He said the school was well-known for producing excellent students in various disciplines of sports, academics, arts and culture and has also managed to successfully implement the new curriculum since its introduction into the education front.
“To prove that it is not all talk, in the past year alone, Northlea High School managed to produce eight outstanding students in both O and A-level with one of their students (Makaziwe Sibanda) boasting of 10As at O-level. Two of our students attained 19 points (Rodney Munyengeterwa) and 17 points (Lizwelethu Moyo) at A-level.
“The school has a student who has qualified to the U-17 boys’ Zimbabwe Tennis Team for 2019 Zamani Moyo and are the reigning champions in the Under-20 Handball boys’ and girls’ teams and our Under-20 boys’ handball team has been champions for the past six years,” said Mr Gambiza.
Speaking at the prize giving day as the guest of honour, Lupane State University (LSU) Senior Assistant Registrar in the Faculty of Commerce Mr Fredrick Mabhikwa encouraged students to be innovative.
“Students are living in a very fluid economy where employment has become a pipe dream so we should embrace the Education 5,0 concept of innovation and industrialisation which is not only for tertiary institutions but also for primary and secondary education,” he said.
He said the world needs a graduate with or without a job.
“We need a new graduate who is an employment creator and not an employment seeker. Teachers need to inculcate ideas of entrepreneurship that come only through innovation,” said Mr Mabhikwa.
He added that students need to know that education was not all about employment.
“Education is not about employment but is all about equipping students with survival skills with or without formal employment. As schools we need to start innovation clubs and strengthen those that already exist because currently the country has more than 20 universities that produce about 30 000 graduates yearly and where are all those going,” he said.
He also said that as LSU Faculty of Commerce they pledge to adopt the school entrepreneurship club.
“We are willing to support incubation of innovations and industrialisation ideas from the school and have a group of teachers train from the university in order to assist in cascading entrepreneurship concepts in the school,” said Mr Mabhikwa.
