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Mashonaland West Bureau
Villagers in Makonde District, Mhangura, have expressed concern over long distances which children walk to the nearest schools, and are calling on Government to build more schools in the area.

The villagers, particularly from Chimusenga and Marime farming areas north of Mhangura Mine, said their children were walking more than 10 kilometres to access Early Child Development classes (ECD) at Ponderosa Primary School.  “We implore the provincial education office to look into the matter seriously as our children are failing to go to school at the right age of infant education due to the distances that they are supposed to walk,” said Ms Sibusisiwe Ndlovu in an interview recently. The nearest school to our village is at least seven kilometres away, which is rather long for the infants to walk daily.”

The situation is the same for villagers at Victory Farm, who say their children risk drowning as they are forced to cross flooded rivers to get to school.

“Although we have not had cases of children drowning, the risk is still high as children as young as five years go to school unattended,” a farm worker, Mrs Nyaradzai Jeche, said.