Zimpapers Logo

George Maponga Masvingo Bureau

The Government has been hailed by the Nemanwa community in Masvingo district for financing construction of a new state-of-the-art primary school using the devolution fund with over $20 million sunk into the project to date.

The new school, Chirichoga Primary School, located at Nemanwa Growth Point, opened its doors in January last year and so far five classroom blocks housing Grades 1 to 4 have been completed.

The whole project is expected to be completed over the next 12 months, with more devolution funding expected from Government.

The new school has enrolled over 450 pupils, de-congesting surrounding schools such as Nemanwa, Sikato and Nemazuwa primary schools that were overpopulated with a runaway teacher-student ratio.

According to Mr Philip Ncube of Nemanwa Growth Point, the new school was handy as pupils were traveling long distances to access primary education.

“Our children used to travel for very long distances to Nemazuwa, Sikato or Nemanwa primary schools which are far and these schools already had very high student population,” he said.

“We want to thank Government for building a new primary school at our growth point using devolution funds.”

His sentiments were echoed by Mrs Emelda Kechekeche of Curios business centre, who said the new school would help change the complexion of Nemanwa Growth point.

“The new primary school at Nemanwa is not only helping in reducing the distance that our children travelled to and from school, but the new school is a modern facility which will change the complexion of Nemanwa, hitherto largely seen as a rural growth point devoid of modern buildings,’’ she said.

Mrs Loveness Mukaro of Nemanwa Growth Point said some of the pupils were travelling 25km away to Masvingo City to attend school, meaning they spend most of their time on the road.

“The new school (Chirichoga) has brought relief to us because our children were even going as far as Masvingo City to attend school because of shortage of primary schools in and around Nemanwa,” she said.

“Imagine some of our children even walked to Morgenster Mission to attend school which was not safe considering the distance and the unsafe route which they had to use.’’

Mrs Mukaro urged Government to expand building of new schools in other areas using devolution funding, saying the funds were helping local authorities bridge the infrastructural development gap in the face of paucity of resources.

Masvingo Rural District Council chief executive Mr Martin Mubviro said to date, $20 million had been ploughed into building of the new school.

“Work is continuing at Chirichoga where we have so far built five classroom blocks to cater for Grades 1 to 4,” he said.

“We hope to finish the work in the near future with more funding expected under devolution.”

Mr Mubviro lamented that before Chirichoga came on the map, nearby schools like Nemanwa Primary had enrolment of up to over 1 200 pupils as the local community grappled with shortage of primary school places.

Nemanwa Growth Point has been growing in leaps and bounds, with its population skyrocketing on the back of increased rural to urban migration in Masvingo district.