Nswazwi villagers in Bulilima, Plumtree have come together to construct a secondary school to help shorten the distances travelled by learners to school and also increase the literacy rate in the area.
The vision, which has been in the making for 13 years came to life recently when construction work began.
In an interview with CITE, one of the community members involved in the project, Mthokozisi Ndlovu said children walk up to 15km to access education at a nearby school.
“This project started some time ago, dates back to 12-13 years ago. We have always wanted a secondary school of our own, the reason being the nearest secondary school, Malalume, is about 15-16 km away.
“Our children are forced to walk that long distance to and from school every day, imagine what it does to the learners, after school having to walk back 15km with homework to do, by the time they get home they will be very exhausted with little or no time to do their homework,” said Ndlovu.
He said Nswazwi Secondary School has always been a dream of the community
“They approached the then councilor for ward 14, Mtshumayeli Ndlovu, it took some time, it was delayed here and there until recently the school was pegged. The council came to peg the school and the MP, Dingumuzi Phuthi also made it possible that the school is pegged and he pushed the people from physical planning to come and peg. While waiting for that process to be done we were molding bricks per ward,” he said.
He said the community works on the school project on Monday and Wednesday for two hours.
“What we do when we get there, we are divided into sub-wards, some will be clearing the school ground, some will be digging the foundation, some will be doing other things, we divided ourselves into groups, doings different tasks,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu said, at the moment, the community has no donors assisting them.
“So far, it’s just the community members, we haven’t got any donors, we just do it as villagers, we contribute whatever is there and buy cement. We are just hoping that as we embark on this journey we will get people who will assist us along the way,” he said.
