Bhale community applauds government.

Shentani Ndlovu recalls how he used to walk for 17km to the nearest school. He described the journey as ‘unbearable’ as he encountered elephants and hyenas among other wild animals just to get to the nearest school in Chibhala.

“I only attended school when I was grown up. I remember we would wake up in the wee hours of the morning to make it to school before the 9am. These were the worst days of my life,” he recalled.

Watch Video:Click Here

Ndlovu who is now 25 was forced to drop out of school after primary due to the then lack of secondary schools in Ward 13 in Hwange Rural District Council.

“After completing my primary school in 2009, I stayed at home for two years, and resumed my secondary school two years later where I only did Form One for one term at Lukhosi Secondary. I could not continue with school the following term because the distance was just too straining for me to continue,” he said.

There has been a notable number of school dropouts in the previous years for most Hwange rural leaners. But, thanks to the Second Republic’s mantra of leaving no one and no place behind, dropping out of school owing to lack of schools, is no longer an option. The government has gone in overdrive to build more schools and health facilities in the once marginalised rural communities.

The government through the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) has rolled out a developmental project of building a secondary and primary school in the most remote communities in Hwange rural areas.

Bhale community is one of the benefactors of the government where a primary and a secondary is being constructed.

“Bhale village has been known to be one of the communities lagging behind in terms of development. We really appreciate what the government has done to empower us and I cannot hide my joy right now,” said Innocent Nyathi, a Bhale Villagehead.

Nyathi praised the Second Republic for walking the talk about inclusivity and having the development of Hwange rural communities at heart.

“It has been decades without a school in my village and the lack of schools has been contributing to teenage pregnancy as well as a notable increase of early child marriages because out children had no purpose. This initiative will surely develop our community, socially and economically,” he said.

The school building project which is expected to be complete in first quarter of the year is also expected to start learner’s enrollment soon.

Two classroom blocks are 70 percent complete and teachers’ cottages are under construction.
More than 100 builders who are mainly locals are working with a target of finishing the school earliest.

“This project has even created employment for our villagers, we have young men and women working tirelessly, they all want to see the success of this project,” said an elated Nyathi.

Meanwhile, a site for the secondary school has already been identifies.

RIDA has been implementing some key projects in Binga and Hwange district. These include rehabilitation of Binga airstrip, Binga –Siakobvu road surfacing, Chentali Dam drilling as well as the constructing of a schools in Hwange rural communities.

Under the National Development Strategy (NDS1) the government has been paying attention to improving access to education in marginalised communities. The government has since availed funds to construct schools in the 10 provinces.

Hwange district has seen 21 annex schools, which are only convenient to conduct class lessons. The district so far has 24 registered secondary schools and 82 registered primary schools operating under the Hwange district council.