Emsizini Secondary School of the United Methodist Church in Kensington, on the outskirts of Bulawayo, on Saturday dedicated a new classroom block and a 16-seater vehicle to support staff transport and school activities.
The school head, Kholwani Moyo, said the classroom was fully funded by Mayfield Church in East Ohio, USA, while the vehicle was donated by a benefactor who wanted to remain anonymous.
Speaking during the dedication of the classroom and the vehicle, Moyo said learners in the area failed to continue with their studies after finishing Grade 7 due to the absence of affordable schools in the area.
“ This Institution was opened as a co-educational secondary school in January 2007, it was opened by the United Methodist as such the United Methodist Church is the responsible authority. By then 33 students were enrolled, most of the students had stayed for two or three years after completing grade 7 because the nearest secondary School was some 10km away, their parents couldn’t afford to take them to schools in Bulawayo such as Milton High School, Eveline, Townsend and CBC and the like,” he said.
Moyo said before the school got registered, it was operating as a satellite of Tenson Hlabangana High School.
“During that time, the school was not registered it was operating as a satellite of Tenson Hlabangana High School, which belongs to the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa. In 2010, we had or pioneers sitting for their examinations at Tenson Hlabangane; they were driven for examination, and that mission ended with a zero pass rate. In 2011, we returned to Tenson Hlabangane and came back with another zero per cent result. In 2012, we went back again for the last time and thus, when we recorded 9.09 percent, Handsome Macala and another male student Kelvin Mkhize, came to the rescue,” he said.
Moyo said the school started to have a good pass rate around 2016. “In 2016 we recorded 29.7 percent, that was above the national average, we never looked back. At one time we recorded 65. 7 percent that was 2019, conceding with the establishment of the low-cost boarding facility. Our highest pass rate recorded in our history has been 75percent in 2023, that was a milestone for the school, as a non selective we have really done well. From 2016 up to this day we have remained above national average. We continue to provide quality education,” he said.
Moyo said they currently have a sustainable boarding facility. “Right now we have a sustainable boarding school but in the so not distant future we will be having a fully fletched boarding facility with state of the art hostels,” he said.
He indicated that most of the teachers stay in Bulawayo, hence the bus came in handy.
“Most of our teachers stay in Bulawayo urban, so the vehicle will be used to transport teachers to school and back to town. At times it will be used to transport learners to workshops and sporting activities such as netball , volleyball, and soccer,” he said.
Moyo said, currently, the school has three classroom blocks and one science laboratory. In addition, Reverend. Dr Machinga said the school is yet to have the state-of-the-art infrastructure.
“We are in the teaching Ministry because we partner the government in development , we do so making a difference. It is only a matter of time , this Institution will grow to greater height . God being on our side we will have state of the art infrastructure here at EMsizini,” he said.
The ward Councilor, Moyo, shared excitement about the developments at the school, citing that he used to trouble school authorities for low pass rate. “ I used to ask the teachers why the school was producing bad results, but because of my patience I was always behind them. I started seeing results improving,“ he said.
The councillor took the opportunity to request the church to also assist in building the local clinic so that the learners would get primary care before being transferred to big hospitals.