Bindura (New Ziana) -A Bindura University of Science Education lecturer has come to the rescue of the Trojan Mine community near Shamva, Mashonaland Central province and surrounding farms after he established a private secondary school near the mine.
Since it was commissioned in 1968, the mine only has a primary school as the colonial government had a deliberate policy of securing cheap labour through ensuring that after completing primary education, male children who were supposed to proceed to secondary school would seek employment on mines and farms where they lived.
The young labourers would soon marry and in most cases bear many children as they did not practice family planning, and the cycle would be perpetuated.
Before the establishment of the school, which was recently opened, parents at the mine and surrounding areas were sending their children to either Chipindura, Chipadze, Herman Gmeiner or Wayerera Secondary Schools all which are more than seven kilometers away.
Professor George Nyamadzawo said the new private secondary school, named University Hills, was offering classes up to Advanced Level and has a single classroom for each class except for Form One which has two.
At the moment only one student is enrolled for “A” level studies at the college.
“And by virtue of her being the only girl and in an Upper form, she is the head girl,” he said.
Fees are paid in foreign currency but, parents can pay either in Zimbabwean dollars or through Ecocash and swipe using the bank rate.
“Tuition is US$60, development levy is US$15 and for those doing practicals such as computers and agriculture they pay the equivalence of US$20 and $15 respectively,” he confirmed.
Parents who spoke to Nehanda Guardian hailed Prof Nyamadzawo for his initiative, saying he saved them in many ways.
“We were budgeting for bus fares every month for our children who were either going to Chipindura, Chipadze and Herman Gmeiner Secondary Schools,” said Mr Tendai Dandira.
“Some of them we were even wondering whether they were attending lessons after all but with this nearby school, we can monitor them,” he added.
The school is currently offering the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council syllabus while plans afoot to register it with the Cambridge University and become its examination centre.
New Ziana
