Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has constructed another primary school in Cowdray Park to decongest the four schools in the sprawling suburb.
The suburb has four primary schools which are Tategulu, Mkhithika Thebe, Mahlathini and Cowdray Park primary schools.
According to the local authority, the city needs at least 25 new primary schools to reduce congestion at the existing schools.
Speaking during a Secretary`s Bell Merit award handover ceremony at Mawaba Primary School, Community Services Assistant Director, Mrs Thumamina Khumalo said the new school will be operational next year.
“We are in the process of constructing another school in the area which will be officially opened in mid 2020 to decongest three schools which have an average enrolment of about 2 300 students,” said Khumalo.
The city has failed to implement most of its development projects due to the collapse of the country`s economy.
Speaking at Bulawayo City Council (BCC) 2019-2034 master plan consultation meeting held in October, the city’s masterplan consultant Job Jika Ndebele revealed that constructed only five schools from a target of 101 primary and secondary schools in the past 15 years.
“In preparing that masterplan a lot of assumptions were made and some of the assumptions were not quite correct. One of the assumptions was that there would be a normal economic situation for 15 years. From 2000 to 2015, expectations in the masterplan were that conditions politically and economically would be stable. But we know what happened,” said Ndebele.
“So, when there were proposals for certain developmental projects those hit against abnormal economic environment situation which arose. However, despite the difficulties in socio-economic and political problems the City of Bulawayo managed to achieve quite a number of things.”
