Community employs Maths Teacher to improve quality of education

Nsezi Secondary School falls not far from schools in Matabeleland that have in the past couple of years been infamously known for producing results that are below standard. Recently, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education yielded to the Umzinyathini community’s plea to improve the child to teacher ratio by deploying a Mathematics teacher in Nsezi Secondary school. Ideally, the stipulated teacher to child ratio is 1:40.

The addition of one teacher to Umzinyathini village brings hope of an improved pass rate that has over the years been turned into a crude joke when juxtaposed with other fully staffed schools in the region. The positive strides that the Ministry of Education has shown to the High School follows community interventions towards solving dwindling pass rates in at least one school within their community.

Community members, including a significant number of women who were at the forefront of ensuring that their children’s needs are taken into great account approached the District Schools Administrator, whose role involves teacher recruitment and deployment within the area. Prior to meeting with the District Schools Inspector, a group of women who benefitted from a series of trainings conducted by Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) on Social Accountability models, Accessibility, Acceptability, Affordability and Quality (AAAQ) of services, collected data on the current number of teachers working at local schools.

The appalling results from the data collected pushed them to take a leap and confront the District Schools Inspector.

According to Mary Gwanyira, a woman from uMzinyathini, “collecting information on the number of teachers in our local schools became a priority, particularly when we observed how the pass rates had not recuperated as we anticipated.  It has not been easy for us as parents to deal with the low pass rate that our local schools seem to be producing.”

“Among women who were part of the data collection initiative were individuals who highlighted their commitment to settling school fees payments every term,” she added. “Mbizingwe Primary school has 520 students and 14 teachers, Doyana Primary has 278 students who are taught by 6 teachers while Nsezi Secondary has 224 students who are taught by only 4 teachers.”

Three of the four schools in the area recorded an increase in their pass rates from the year 2016, while one school’s performance declined.

“When our schools produce such results, it motivates us as parents to persevere in our battle towards improving our children’s access to a decent and conducive learning environment,” said Khulani Ncube, a woman based in Umzinyathini village. “The pass rate is nothing close to what we aspire our schools to produce, but if more qualified teachers are recruited to work in the area, it is possible for us to attain our desired results.”

Women’s Institute for Leadership Development’s (WILD) role is to strengthen relations between local authorities and members of the community. WILD also encourages communities to hold their leaders to account whenever they lag behind in providing quality public social services such as education, health, water and sanitation.