Matopo High School equips pupils with life skills

Tafadzwa Chibukwa, Features Reporter

APART from maintaining academic excellence and impressive pass rates, Matopo High School strives to equip pupils with life skills.

Their motto, “We strive to build a complete character”, highlights Matopo High School’s sole purpose, which is to mould pupils of integrity.

The school builds good character among pupils by providing quality academic, technical, moral and physical education.

The mission of the school is to produce individuals who are equipped with skills to ensure that they fit into the cultural, social and economic development agenda of the country while endeavouring to uphold the moral values of the school and society.

With an enrolment of 1 150 pupils comprising mainly boarders, Matopo High School has proved beyond doubt that it is results oriented.

The school has since 2017 maintained their pass rate for ‘A’ Level pupils above 90 percent. The pass rate has ranged from the lowest being 92 percent in 2018 and the highest being 96 percent in 2021.

The ‘O’ Level pass rate was however affected by learning stoppages following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw it dropping to 73 percent in 2020. The school managed to bounce back last year and rose to 75 percent. Before the pandemic, the pass rate has always been above 80 percent.

In an interview, Matopo High School Headmaster, Mr Gardson Sibanda, narrated how the school strives to be the most preferred in the country.

“Our main aim as a school is to produce pupils who leave school to go out and be better citizens, people who leave a mark. When one encounters them, they can easily tell that they are a product of Matopo High School.”

“We are doing so by involving our pupils in a number of projects that the school has embarked on. We have introduced gardening and livestock farming including piggery, cattle rearing and poultry among others,” said Mr Sibanda.

He said not only are these projects benefiting the school, but they are also equipping pupils with skills that could help them sustain themselves in the community.

The school has refrained from relying on sponsors and purchasing products from other establishments  as it is producing its own.

“Instead of waiting for sponsorship or money from fees, we are producing most of our food. We have a bakery that is fully functional and produces bread for our pupils. We also have other projects like the poultry one which provides meat for our pupils,” he said.

Mr Sibanda said the school projects are not benefiting the school alone but they have a tuckshop that supplies basic commodities to residents who live in the proximity of the school. This in turn generates money for the school.

The school has always been up to standard with highly trained staff members. Of the staff members, 21 hold degrees and 12 have diplomas.

The headmaster said the school has stuck to its motto which inspires it to produce graduates that go on to hold influential positions in society.

“Our school has always produced pupils who go out and excel in society. At the moment, we have almost 10 staff members who are former students of the school, including the deputy headmaster, Mr Mzingaye Mathwasa. We have people like the Vice Chancellor of the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) who are also former students of the school,” said Mr Sibanda.

In the past seven years, the school enrolment has risen from 720 students to 1 172 and has reached its full capacity.

The deputy headmaster, Mr Mathwasa said these developments have prompted an increase in staff members from 32 to 42.

It has also resulted in renovations and infrastructural developments such as the construction of hostels, cottages, procurement of furniture and hot sitting in the dining hall.

“We have built a staff cottage which is housing members of staff and all dormitories and bathrooms around the school have been tiled. There’s also plastering in and outside school buildings, painting of roofs and renovations in the quad area that are work in progress,” said Mr Mathwasa.

He said two weeks ago, the school installed solar systems as a means to mitigate power challenges presented by load shedding.

“This is our latest project as we have had other solar projects before such as solar geysers and solar lighting.  We had been focusing on dormitories but now we have provided a power and light source for the school,” said Mr Mathwasa.

The school is vibrant and has been up to date with its Continuous Assessment Learning Activity (CALA).

As early as last week, moderators had started marking the CALAs.
Mr Mathwasa said the pupils were ready for their final examinations and were aiming at returning to their former glory days when they recorded 90 percent and above pass rates.

“Our pass rate has always been impressive, ranging between 80 percent and 90 percent but due to setbacks posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, we dropped in standard and we are aiming at bringing back our glory days. Judging from the way we have handled our assessments with CALAs, we can safely say the pupils are ready and have enough time to revise and prepare for their exams,” said Mr Mathwasa. – @Sagepapie14

Article Source: The Chronicle