Tinaani Nyabereka

Gweru – Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, (ZIMCODD) last week established its Central Region Committee which will drive the organization’s operations in the Midlands.

The establishment of the regional committee saw Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association director, Conilia Selipiwe being elected Chairperson, while Patronella Ngozo of Community Voices Zimbabwe was elected Vice Chairperson with Ephraim Mthombeni being elected Treasurer uncontested.

Youth Essence will lead the cluster on youths and students while the Health Cluster will be led by Women In Communities (WiCO).

Other cluster leads are ZimRights which leads the Human Rights and Legal Affairs, while Gender and Women will be led by Ebenezer Trust. The Debt, Trade, and Economic cluster went to MACRAD while the Residents Association leads went to Masvingo Residents Forum.

ZIMCODD National Chairperson, Rosewitta Katsande said as Zimcodd they were confident in the leadership of the Central Region in pushing socio-economic justice issues.

“As Zimcodd we are very excited and appreciate the formation of the Central Region Commitee. We have been reflecting on how best we can broaden our membership.

“So ushering the central region will help grow men, women, and youths to champion Social Economic Justice.

“So we expect the new committee to interface with citizens and different clusters, sharing experiences and ideas among other things,” he added.

The Central Region’s new chairperson, Selipiwe said, as a newly established committee there was a need to tackle social economic justice issues without fear or favor.

“Besides being a committee, first and foremost we are- socio-economic justice ambassadors, we are always aware of the issues we stand for.

“We need to take our leaders into account, on socio-economic issues. One thing is for sure, no one can assume chairmanship of a region if he or she doesn’t know what needs to be addressed or how to grow membership.

“We are now saying going forward as a committee, we need to create a convergent zone for networking and sharing ideas with the community. We are there to hear from the people and implement what they say,” said Selipiwe.

In a solidarity message, ZIMCODD Programmes Manager, John Maketo, urged the newly established committee to unite to grow the region.

Beatific Gumbwanda

Schools in Chiredzi District have produced remarkable grade seven results with Chiredzi Town Council run Tshovani Primary School lighting a shining candle with close to 100 pupils scoring 10 units and below.
The school which has a huge enrolment due to shortages of Primary Schools in Chiredzi Urban has one teacher, Nyasha Chamisa who is on the School Development Committee (SDC) payroll, whose class has 12 leaners with six units.
304 pupils sat for the examination, 93 them scored 10 units and below. Of the 93, 27 pupils scored six units, 18 pupils scored seven units.
17 leaners scored 8 units while14 pupils scored 9 units and 17 with 10 units and the school recorded an overall pass rate of 92.43%.
Chiredzi Government Primary School though has 99.35% pass rate with 18 pupils who scored 6 units.
17 pupils scored 7 units, 16 with 8 units, 9 scoring 9 units and 11 scoring 10 units adding up to 71 pupils who have scored 10 units or better.
Hippo Valley Primary School recorded a 100% pass rate with two highest performers scoring 7 units, three pupils with 8 units.
One pupil scored 9 units and three others scoring 10 units adding up to nine pupils with 10 units or better.
Shingai Primary School recorded 85.03 percent with four pupils scoring six units, 8 pupils with 7 units, 11 pupils with 8 units, 13 pupils with 9 units and 7 pupils with 10 units adding up to 43 pupils with 10 units or better.
Lowveld Adventist Primary School (LAPS) scored slightly above Shingai Primary, with 89% pass rate.
Three pupils scored six units, six pupils with seven units and eight pupils with eight units.
Nine pupils scored nine units then 12 pupils had 10 units adding up to 38 pupils with 10 units and below.
Kyle Primary School in Triangle did better with 34 pupils who registered 10 units and below. Of the 34, four pupils have six units and 13 leaners had seven units.
Four pupils scored eight units, six got nine units and seven leaners scored 10 units.
Ratidzo Primary School at the Zimbabwe Sugar Association Experiment Station (ZSAES) has only one leaner with seven units and the rest registered units above ten.

Tanyaradzwa Tizora

2996 graduands were capped at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST)’s 29th Graduation ceremony held on Wednesday December 6 2023 in Bulawayo where 250 students graduated with first class and distinctions.
44 students were foreigners from Botswana, Malawi and Zambia and 46 percent of the graduates were female and 54 percent were male.
A number of students graduated from new programmes including Masters of Science in Big Data Science, Bachelor of Construction Studies in Construction Management and Bachelor of Construction Studies in Quantity Surveying.
Among notable faces were Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Jenfan Muswere who graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Development Studies, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) employees Lisa Masuku and Mthokozisi Dube.
Minister Muswere’s degree is his second PHD and his thesis was titled “Corporate Governance Practices and Performance of State-owned Enterprises in the Information and Communication Technology Sector in Zimbabwe: A New Public Management Approach”.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Nust Vice Chancellor (VC) Professor Mqhele Dlodlo said the University was building two factory stores in collaboration with Masvingo Polytechnical College.
“NUST is setting up industries on campus through construction of aid factory shells. Working together with Masvingo Polytechnical College, we have started constructing one of the factory shells and by the end of 2024, two factory sheds will be completed. The University has since introduced new programs to support the construction sector.
“NUST is ranked 24 out of 88 universities in 20 countries in teaching, research and societal impact by the Times Higher Education Sub-Saharan Africa University rankings,” added Professor Dlodlo.
Professor Dlodlo said the University partnered with Katswe Sisterhood in setting up a Gender Knowledge in a bid to support female students and academics. He said that will also impact the increasing enrollment of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.

Beverly Bizeki

A move to introduce a teacher incentive at the Catholic-run St Anthony High in Zaka by the School Development Committee (SDC) has sparked mixed feelings and divided parents with some in support of the idea while others feel they are forced to do government’s duty.
The teacher incentive was initially pegged at US$30 for form 1-4s and US$40 for A levels at an Annual General Meeting held recently but was later reviewed down to US$20 and US$30 respectively after heated debates on various WhatsApp platforms.
SDC Chairperson Joseph Gumbire confirmed the development and said though there were some disagreements over the issue, the initiative was completely parent driven and not influenced by the school administration saying it was meant to motivate teachers to improve their work.
“The teacher’s incentive is a parent driven initiative with nothing to do with the administration. The idea came after some parents approached teachers to help their children by way of extra lessons but that was hard for some parents to pay monthly fees for extra lessons. So what it meant was that those who fail to pay for extra lessons will disadvantage their children. This would also lead to the discrimination of some learners.
“It is against this background that parents came together with the idea of paying teachers an incentive as a token of appreciation and to motivate them in doing their work. There will be no extra hours added, teachers will just do their work and help every learner equally as need be,” said Gumbire.
Responding to why there were mixed feelings over the incentive issue, Gumbire said some parents complained over the amounts set at first and required a downward review while others were taking sides with the few members of staff who were benefitting from the extra lessons system.
“Only a few individuals were against the idea of incentives and at first parents wanted a downward review of the fees required which is why we changed it. We have a few who were against the idea and could have been benefiting from the old system,” said Gumbire.
However, Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) Director of Communications Taungana Ndoro said they were against such arrangements saying it was not the duty of a parent to pay teachers but to support their children.
“We continue to warn parents against that. Their role is not to pay teachers but support their children, if they do so, they are creating an entitlement which when they fail to pay, the teachers will not deliver on their duties effectively,” said Ndoro.
Parents who were against the idea argued that the incentive does not guarantee good pass rates or that teachers would put in the extra effort while others said incentivizing teachers would mean they are taking government’s responsibility.
“This means that we are taking the employer’s responsibility of paying teachers, that being done how will you verify that the teachers are going an extra mile in teaching the learners, is there going to be an assessment and by who?
“I am sure we are all aware of the result-based reward that is being employed at our school by the shrewd leadership. And it has been so effective. Now we have started mending something that is not broken and setting a calamitous precedent that will impact on generations to come,” said one parent.
Another parent said they were not supposed to do a one size fits all and said extra lesson were better since they were optional.
“Who said teachers are not happy? Is it not expedient that we take a case by case approach and not one size fit all? What if I take that US$ 20 and take my child for extra lessons so that they can catch up where they are left behind. Is it not better than letting the school fees for Musiso be expensive because children are behind (on their lessons) Do we have evidence that if we pay teachers, the learners will improve,” said one grieved parent
Another parent who was for the incentive idea said it was noble as extra lessons meant the teachers were supposed to create extra time after learning hours but incentives will simply motivate them to do their work on the stipulated time.
“I think what needs to be done here are not extra lessons unless if we are saying the time stipulated is inadequate of which I do not think as parents here we can come up with a solution. Inadequate time for the syllabus can only be resolved through curriculum review. Incentivizing our teachers is good to motivate them so that they meet their objectives by attending lessons as expected, according to their timetables. I support the decision of giving them something as parents to motivate them,” said the parent.
Government however has been on record for banning extra lessons in schools but some teachers and schools have ignored the call.