Ward 28 Councillor, Ntandoyenkosi Ndlovu, has bemoaned the lack of adequate infrastructure at primary schools in his jurisdiction, noting that one of the schools has only 30 classrooms, instead of 96 to function at full capacity.
Cllr Ndlovu said the lack of infrastructure is affecting the schools’ output and this may have a negative bearing on the learners’ future.
Ward 28 is in Cowdray Park, Bulawayo’s most populous suburb and was turned into a Constituency after the delimitation exercise ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections.
It comprises Ward 6, Ward 15 and Ward 28. Wards 6 and 15 have one primary school each.
Ward 28 has two primary schools.
In an interview with CITE, Cllr Ndlovu said the two schools in his ward are both using the four-class-tier system where four classes use one classroom, with two having lessons simultaneously.
“You will realise that we have only two schools in Ward 28, Mahlathinini Primary and Mkhithika Thebe Primary. They are not adequate to accommodate all the children. At Mahlathini, there are only 30 classes yet the school needs about 96 classes. This means we have a backlog of over 66 classes.
At the moment, four classes are sharing one classroom. Two classes will come in the morning and two classes will do hot sitting. This is affecting the output from our schools. Children cannot really concentrate under such circumstances. They are slowly losing interest in school and this is affecting our schools’ pass rate,” he said.
“Here we are only talking about the bare minimum. We haven’t gotten into the fact that there are no libraries, there is shortage of textbooks, there is little to no ICT material. Children are losing interest in school because of this four-tier classroom system. We are worried about the future of children because when they leave school they would not have acquired the adequate quality of education which is deserved by all the children of Zimbabwe.”
Cllr Ndlovu appealed for assistance from various stakeholders to help them by building more classroom blocks at the learning facilities.
“In the immediate, we need to ensure that these two schools in Ward 28 get more blocks so that the classrooms are adequate. As it is, ECD classes have been added yet schools have not been capacitated with adequate resources. We therefore need enough infrastructure at our schools,” he said.
“In the long term we need to advocate for more schools in the new wards in Cowdray Park Constituency. These new wards have one school each in the meantime. The schools in Ward 28 have over 2000 learners and the infrastructure there is not enough.”
Cllr Ndlovu added “We are appealing to well-wishers to help us with the building of more classroom blocks. At Mkhithika Thebe, the Church of the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ is building a block with four classrooms. This is the kind of assistance that we need from various stakeholders. It could be churches, the government or NGOs.”
