…wins Stockholm essay competition
Emmanuel Chitsika
With countries around the globe channeling resources towards Climate Change mitigation and adaptation, Masvingo City Council’s Rujeko Primary School girl has joined the initiative ensuring that the pen is mightier than the sword as the saying goes.
The young learner Elina Ringisai (11) defied the odds and shrug off all the competition she encountered from school up to national level in the essay writing contest.
The essay was on ways to mitigate Climate Change challenges prevailing on the global arena.
Minutes from council meeting held on June 6, confirmed the learner’s fairy-tale towards stardom where she can be ranked among the top guns in as far as Climate Change issues are concerned.
“The report of the Director of Housing and Social Services on the participation of Rujeko Primary School in essay writing competition focusing on the environment was considered. It was reported that Rujeko Primary School pupil Elina Ringisai in Grade 5 won the national competition and attended the prize giving ceremony hosted by her Excellency the Ambassador of Sweden.
“The committee congratulated the learner and Rujeko Primary School for the achievement,” read the minutes.
Rujeko Primary school head Aleck Tabe said he was delighted by Ringisai’s achievement as the learner sailed through all the levels from school, district, provincial to national levels which he said raises the flag of the school higher as it reflects on the good work they are doing.
“To us as a school, the win is a milestone achievement for the school and the learner herself. By virtue of her being a girl child, the win is something the school can boast of among other schools in Zimbabwe.
“The victory is a measure of standards and thus we are ranked even higher than we would have anticipated. The success of this school that we usually see through Grade 7 results where we have maintained higher percentage pass rates is thus justified by such good works. As a result, our pass rate are complemented by other performances like this one,” he said.
Asked on the secret behind the success, Tabe said hard work on part of teachers and learners is the major driver of success at the learning institution.
“The secret behind that run of success is dedication by teachers from Infant leve to Grade 7. All the teachers show a lot of commitment and are always punctual and spot on which also drives the eagerness of our learners to partake in learning. The strong work ethic drives our school.
“As a school we adhere to the requirements of the Ministry on what they want learners to learn especially this updated curriculum emphasizing on what learners should learn from the syllabus while text books come in as complimentary sources,” he added.
Rujeko, according to Tabe is making strides towards Climate Change mitigation measures and instilling sense of responsibility in learners.
“At Rujeko, we try and maintain zero tolerance to littering, high standards of cleanliness such that if you visit our school, you would realise you are in a litter free zone.
“There is no burning of papers which can cause emission of toxic gases into the air. We also contact Masvingo council to collect garbage timeously,” said Tabe.
