…Brand new secondary school in Masvingo sends headmaster over the moon
Part of Masvingo City Council’s devolution funds has gone into the building of a brand-new secondary school at the high-density Rujeko suburb of the city. The encomiums cannot end, if you believe the excited headmaster of the school, reports Baffour Ankomah.
Headmaster Matongo Odoy is a special academic. A brilliant man by any standard, he loves his work so much that at Mwenezi, his former station, he used to run 3 schools simultaneously. At his new station in Masvingo city, his burdens have been reduced to just 2 schools. And how is he coping, he was asked by a team of Brick by Brick editors visiting one of his schools, the brand new Rujeko Secondary School, on Valentine’s Day, 14 February 2023.
“Two schools are very few for me,” the affable headmaster said, smiling. “In Mwenezi, I used to have 3. I am a polygamist, I know how to do it. In Mwenezi, I used to manage 3 schools. Here in town I have 2, but the population now is rather high.”
Poor Mr Odoy. He knows how to do it! But Masvingo city is giving him only 2 schools. Is it because Masvingo doesn’t know the definition of a “polygamist”?
Well, on a Valentine’s Day, love was in the air, and there was no time to dwell on definitions, especially when the headmaster was clearly in the mood (sorry, in his element). “Today marks exactly one year when the school was opened,” Odoy told the Brick by Brick team. “It was opened on Valentine’s Day last year, and you are coming on Valentine’s Day this year. I don’t know about the coincidence.”
Rujeko Secondary could not have come at a better time, built by devolution funds in the Rujeko high density suburb of Masvingo. It is a satellite of the older Ndarama High School, just 2 km away, on the other side of the busy Masvingo-Beitbridge highway.
Odoy manages both schools as headmaster. “At times I begin here at Rujeko and end at Ndarama. At times I come here for a day or so, and delegate to the teacher in charge,” he explained, a lesson for polygamists.
The building of Rujeko Secondary became imperative because there were too many road accidents affecting students crossing the Masvingo-Beitbridge highway to access Ndarama High School across the road.
“So we decided to have a school here at Rujeko so that the learners will not have to cross the Beitbridge highway,” Odoy explained. Thankfully, the Masvingo City Council, then laden with devolution funds, obliged, and built 4 blocks as a start – out of the 27 blocks the school has been planned to have.
“We opened last year with 205 leaners in Form One, with 8 teachers,” the headmaster told Brick by Brick. “This year we have enrolled another 165 learners to bring our total to 362 – Form One, Form Two. However, space is rather limited. We have now 16 teachers, sharing these small offices.”
As the only secondary school in the suburb (divided into Rujeko A, B, C), it is supplied with leaners from 2 primary schools. The first thing that hits you on arrival at the school is the lack of space. There are too many students, 50 to 52, squeezed into a class, instead of the normal 40, maximum 46. Cheek by jowl is the phrase.
“We are intending to build more blocks. In fact, construction has already started,” the headmaster said. “We are expected to build 2 more blocks going this side,” he said pointing. “On this side we are expected to have 7 blocks.
“Then going the other way, where the main road is, we are going to build some more blocks there. Upon completion, this school will have 27 blocks in total. But now we have 4, so there is a long way to go. This is going to be a school of Form One to Six. It is the second council school in the country, after Tinotinba.
“The money for the 27 blocks will come from the City Council and also from parents who are already contributing to build 2 technical rooms, including a computer lab. Remember this is a secondary school,” Odoy added.
Mother school
The headmaster’s many exertions would not go away as he spoke, so the Brick by Brick team asked him if he was running two schools because of the shortage of headmasters?
“No, it is still a satellite school. It is still a baby,” he responded. “It has to grow from the mother and still maintain the standards of the mother. A satellite school is an offspring of a mother school, which, in this case, is the Ndarama High School. So the two schools are being run under my leadership. The mother school is still by the roadside, where the accidents were happening.
“Administratively, we have meetings here and we have meetings there. But now we have different coffers for Rujeko and Ndarama. So most of the academic activities will be running together until the time that Rujeko can stand alone. I am sure the time is coming very soon.”
Any deadline for the 27 blocks to be completed? Has the Council given him any indications and assurances, Odoy was asked. His answer was not direct. “The demand for education is now very, very high, now it is around 50 to 52 learners in each class, usually it should be 40, maximum 46. But the demand means we have to go up to 52.
“The parents are keen to contribute to the building of new blocks. If the Council gives us 2 blocks, and the parents add 2 blocks, we will have 4. But we are thinking of going sky-up to save space on the ground, because space in town is now expensive.”
The headmaster praised the City Council for providing the needed facilities for the school. “Our books are 1:1 ratio. The facilities are there, being provided by the City Council through devolution. But we still have a long way to go, because we need transport, sports grounds, etc. All these things need to be done.
“Through the initiative of President Mnangagwa, the school has invested in agriculture to produce food to sustain itself. We have a big field out there [he points in the direction] where crops can be grown. We are being empowered to produce food for the school so that we can get extra cash to run our activities. We have also got a very big field again over there, not only this. Through our curriculum, we are working to complement the government’s Education 5.0 policy which is basically for the tertiary level.”
Moses Nza, a technical officer of the Masvingo City Council, told the Brick by Brick that the construction of the school started in 2021, with 2 blocks. Last year, the Council added another 2 blocks.
“Currently we are constructing Block No.5 and No.6, which are at the excavation stage. We are preparing for the enrolment of Form Threes. Remember every year we will be enrolling Form Ones. Additionally, we are going to construct a computer lab and an Admin block this year, if our funds permit.”
