By Staff Reporter
Masvingo City Council has said the local authority has no funds to construct another school in Runyararo West and the land that was reserved for the school will be given to Francis Aphiri for its expansion.
This comes after calls by residents urging council to build a secondary school in the suburb to cater for learners from the area.
Francis Aphiri Primary is set to construct a satellite school to ease its ever increasing enrolment on the land that was earmarked for the sole secondary school in the suburb.
This came out in a full council meeting held on Monday October 28 where it was noted that the Health, Housing and Environmental Services Committee resolved that Francis Aphiri be granted permission to use the land.
“The report of the Director of Housing and Social Services on the application by Francis Aphiri Primary School, for permission to construct a three-storey classroom block to ease the problem of hot sitting was considered.
“The Committee noted that the idea was noble but there was no space at Francis Aphiri Primary School, and also that the school was already congested since there were 2 650 learners. It was proposed and agreed that Council should offer the School a new site to establish a satellite school to ease congestion of learners at Francis Aphiri Primary School.
“It was proposed that the site originally earmarked for a Secondary school near North West Medical Clinic be changed to a Primary School site to accommodate the request by Francis Aphiri Primary School. The Committee agreed that the proposed storey building be constructed at the new site. The Committee also agreed that Council would avail another site for a public Secondary School in the locality,” read part of the committee minutes
The matter however sparked debate in council chambers as councilors felt they were doing a disservice to council by giving away land earmarked for a secondary school to a primary school.
Ward 2 Councillor Benson Hwata said it was not fair for council to delay construction of a secondary school in the area as learners were struggling to get places in the few secondary schools available.
“You want to allow the construction of another primary school in Runyararo West but where do you think all those learners will go? The available secondary schools are already congested yet you want to add another primary,” said Hwata.
Councillor Sheron Marombedze weighed in saying council was supposed to find another place for Francis Aphiri’s primary school extension or construct double storeys at the school.
Ward 5 councilor Daniel Mberikunashe said the reason why enrolment at Francis Aphiri was ballooning was a result of Victoria Ranch suburb which was not in Masvingo City’s jurisdiction so they were not supposed to be forced to make decisions based on that.
“The reason why Francis Aphiri’s enrolment continues to rise is because of learners coming from Victoria Ranch. The housing scheme there should avail land for schools to cater for the learners from there. We can’t be forced to make decisions because of people out of our jurisdiction. We cannot give away the land that we had allocated for a secondary school, it has to remain as such until we get resources to construct it,” said Mberikunashe.
Masvingo Town Clerck Engineer Edward Mukaratirwa however said the decision was made after considering that constructing a double storey at Francis Aphiri would mean more learners at the school and that would deprive other learners from accessing certain services like sport, as all the leaners would have to use the same grounds so some will end up failing to get a chance.
He said another reason was that the area was closest to the main Francis Aphiri school for easy management and council would negotiate with another church which had been given land to construct a primary school but was failing and if they agree, council will repossess the land for construction of a secondary school and the church will get another place.
