Masotsha High School in Bulawayo’s Magwegwe Constituency has implored the government to avail more funds to the school as they are struggling to complete most of their developmental projects.
The school’s deputy headmaster Mzingaye Mathwasa said the power outages are significantly affecting administrative work and they are also in need of funds to repair their borehole to supply the school with water when council closes it taps during the water-shedding period.
Mathwasa made the appeal during a tour of the school by the constituency’s Member of Parliament, Anele Ndebele.
“The power cuts are impacting heavily on our administration work. We need an alternative source of power such as solar to enable us to work even when there is no electricity. We are also affected by the water crisis because our borehole pump is damaged. Our leaners who take agriculture classes are heavily affected by the unavailability of water,” he said.
Mathwasa said the school struggles to sustain itself financially because parents do not pay school fees in time.
“The school has failed to review levies because whenever we call meetings at the school, out of 731 pupils enrolled at the school, we barely get 40 parents attending. This makes it difficult for us to increase because there would be no consensus between the development committee and the parents,” said Mathwasa.
The MP expressed concern over the conduct of the parents, noting that if schools are not properly taken care of, the quality of education will be compromised.
“It is disheartening to learn that parents do not prioritise the importance of creating a conducive environment for their children’s schooling. We will strategise with the community development committee to draw up the best ways to convince parents of the importance of paying fees in time. If we don’t take care of these schools on our own, we will not have them for long,” said Ndebele.
Ndebele said schools belong to the community and if parents do not play their role by paying fees these institutions will shut down eventually.
Njabulo Moyo advocacy officer for Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) encouraged the school to embark on alternative methods of generating income.
Moyo said the school could rent out some of its premises over the weekend to churches or community organisations.
He urged the school to engage various organisations which could help them lobby parents by raising awareness campaigns on the importance of paying school fees on time.
