The Sunday News
Sithatshisiwe Vuma in Kezi
TSHELANYEMBA High School in Kezi is set to build a girls hostel to ease challenges among pupils within the area, some who are travelling long distances to the school.
Primary and Secondary Education Deputy Minister Edgar Moyo on Friday launched a fundraising initiative for the construction of the girls dormitory that will accommodate 60 pupils when complete. Speaking at the launch, Deputy Minister Moyo said he was pleased with the Tshelanyemba community who took it upon themselves to raise funds to build the girls dormitory and provide a safe environment for the girl child as they face numerous challenges.
“I want to thank you for the fact that you started with the girls dormitory. We have to protect the girl child as most of them are harassed by school leavers on their way back home. It is your responsibility as parents to protect our children from such,” he said.
The fundraising project is being spearheaded by the School Development Committee (SDC) in conjunction with the school authorities. Deputy Minister Moyo added that schools must prioritise building science laboratories.
“Our pupils should not just be trained to remember things but to do, create things and to solve problems. The ministry is working on changing the learning system across the country through the adaption of digitisation.”
Tshelanyemba High School has 278 pupils with 149 being girls. The school’s acting headmaster, Mr Comfort Sirakalala, said the enrolment decreased this year because pupils give up due to the distance some were travelling to school and back home.
“If we build this low cost facility our students will be relieved from walking long distances to and from school, we have lost so many students, some transferred and others went to South Africa,” said Mr Sirakalala.
The school has not put a cap on the amount of money they are raising as they also intend building a boys hostel. Deputy Minister Moyo said the schools are not going to be closed because of rising Covid-19 cases in schools.
“I want to assure you that the school calendar is not going to be distracted and schools will remain opened, students should prepare for their exams,” he said.
Some schools recently recorded an increase in cases of Covid-19 but the Government has managed to contain the spread of the disease.
