Marondera needs more schools

Marondera-(New Ziana) -Marondera town requires more than 20 primary schools to adequately cater for the current demand, it has been learnt.

The town has eight Primary Schools that include the council-run Cherutombo, Chitepo, Ruware, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, Nyameni, Tapfuma and Dombotombo and the government-run Godfrey Huggins.

Each of the schools are designed to cater for at least 500 pupils but reports say most of them are now exceeding 1 500 pupils.

Municipality of Marondera chairperson of the housing and community services committee Size Vilela said the town needed more Primary Schools, whose shortage was leading to the mushrooming of illegal Early Child Development (ECD) centres in most suburbs in the town.

It is believed that more than 3 000 pupils are accommodated at the illegal ECDs and their enrollment status is not in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education database.

“We are really in need of more Primary Schools in Marondera and we have been engaging some of our stakeholders to see how best we can address the challenge. Ideally, Marondera urban needs 22 Primary Schools to meet the current demand.

“Previously and in most cases, council would allocate residential stands but failed to build schools in those areas. In the end, some people have been taking advantage of the situation, opening illegal learning centres that fleece parents of their hard-earned cash,” Vilela said.

Most pupils who could not be accommodated at schools in Marondera Urban are now attending peri-urban schools such as Chisarasara, Grasslands, Marirangwe, Theydon, St Francis and Eagle Tanning Primary Schools.

Vilela also said considering the urgency of the need for more Primary Schools in Marondera, council had formed a schools’ construction committee which is chaired by the director of housing and community services.

“Council also created a separate account for that and revenue collected from churches or church sites are channeled into that account. Construction has since started at Chitepo, Garikai and Cherutombo Primary Schools that have also since enrolled pupils,” he said.

New Ziana