School Development Committees (SDCs) and parents have been urged to take greater responsibility in maintaining school facilities and supporting fundraising efforts to encourage teachers to stay, particularly at schools in peri-urban areas.
The call was made by Bulawayo councillors following concerns raised at several council-run schools, where most teachers reportedly seek transfers within their first two terms of service.
According to the latest council minutes, the councillors raised the issue after conducting a site visit to some schools in Bulawayo’s peri-urban areas.
The councillors heard the roads leading to schools such as St Peter’s and Sizalendaba were in poor condition, discouraging staff from staying long term.
Councillors for Wards 10 and 11, Khalazani Ndlovu and Susan Sithole respectively, also raised concerns that teachers remained at these schools for only two terms before seeking transfers due to poor services and a lack of adequate security facilities.
“Most teachers serve schools just for two terms and then transfer to other schools. This negatively affects learners. There are also cases of burglary at the teachers’ cottages,” the councillors noted.
“Sometimes teachers at these schools are forced to move their belongings into administration blocks over weekends because the security services provided do not cover their residences.”
CITE recently reported on an outcry from villagers in Mazwi, a peri-urban area under Ward 17, over the lack of development at the local learning facility at one of the above-mentioned schools, Sizalendaba Secondary.
Villagers said that since the school was established in 2012, little has been done by the local authority to improve the facilities, putting local children at a disadvantage.
Sizalendaba was built through a partnership between the community, donors and the government before being transferred to the local authority to improve access to secondary education in the peri-urban area.
It remains the only secondary school under the Bulawayo City Council in Mazwi village and still operates without a science laboratory, electricity, sports fields or specialist rooms for technical subjects such as building, woodwork and metalwork.