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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter

GOVERNMENT has availed $4,69 billion for the construction of 35 model schools in all the country’s 10 provinces, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Primary and Secondary Education heard yesterday.

Already, sites for the schools have been identified, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education chief director for Primary, Secondary and Non-Formal Education, Mrs Olicah Kaira, told the Committee.

Under the programme, 19 primary and 16 secondary schools will be constructed with eight offering secondary school boarding facilities.

Of the 35 school sites, 25 are satellite schools already operating without proper infrastructure.

“The Second Education Project 2022 is focusing on the construction of 35 new schools, the rehabilitation of 312 existing, dilapidated infrastructure, and the provision of clean and potable water in schools in a bid to improve quality inclusive and equitable education to ensure that no one and no place is left behind.

“An inter-ministerial committee meeting with all critical players in infrastructure development was held on 29 March 2022 to come up with a road map for all projects,” Mrs Kaira said.

The committee approved the terms of references for the Second Education Project and also the work plan. A task force to work on the finer details of the project has since been set up.

Mrs Kaira added that the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works was working on the designs of the schools by improving drawings of the 17 schools that were designed under the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).

OFID provided a US$20 million loan to Zimbabwe in 2015 for the construction of the schools.

Mrs Kaira said local authorities and private players have also heeded the Government’s call for the construction of new schools with 42 schools having also been registered after they met the registration requirements.

Government has set a target of constructing 3 000 new schools by 2025 to decongest schools. Private players have been urged to partner with the Second Republic in this endeavour.

There are approximately 10 000 primary and secondary schools in the country, which are however, failing to cope with the ever-increasing number of learners.