TellZim Reporter
GUTU – Mupandawana High School is implementing government decision to allow schools to go commercial so as to open revenue inflow to complement parents’ efforts in raising funds for school operations.
Speaking during the official commissioning of the school administration block on Thursday (16 February) 2023, the School Head Tranos Mbwirire said the school was realizing some profits from hiring of the school bus.
He said apart from bus hiring, the school also makes money from the school tuck-shop where they sell foodstuff and other basic commodities.
“We are proud owners of the school bus which we hire out and realize some profits which we use for school development projects. We also have a tuck-shop again which sells a variety of goods and we are getting some money from there as well,” said Mbwirire
He went on to say for skill based learning, the school was involved in a number of agricultural projects where they also get money from the sale of the produce.
The school has 260 broiler layers under battery cage system and the chickens produce at least six crates of eggs per day.
Apart from egg project, the school boasts of 63 ducks and several ducklings which they sell in batches to individuals and businesses.
The school also has 36 occupied beehives which they harvest from time to time and sell the honey in and out of Gutu.
They have a fishpond which is currently under repair and the head said once repairs are complete they will have to restock new breeds which are competitive on the market.
“Our fishpond is under repair and once we are done, we want to get a new breed because we realized that the previous one did not perform as we anticipated. We also have bee hives which give us money when we harvest,” said Mbwirire.
The school also runs a vibrant piggery project as well as crop production with most of their land being under bean production.
Mupandawana High has a total number of 1152 leaners with 584 being boys and 568 being girls. The staff compliment is 45 teachers and 5 support staff.
Mbwirire said the school has a shortage of 8 teachers since they should be 53 but said they were aiming at growing the school pass rate especially at O level which had been affected by Covid-19.
“Our aim now is to grow our pass rate, at ‘A’ level we are always above 90 and we are striving towards 100 percent. At ‘O’ level we have always been above 50 percent but we had dropped a bit due to Covid-19 but we are now back on track,” said Mbwirire
