By Flata Kavinga
Kwekwe District Schools Inspector (DSI) Herbert Maziriri has called on the City of Kwekwe to expedite the registration of its school, Chana Primary, with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, and to prioritise the construction of additional schools to ease congestion in the fast-growing Mbizo area.
Maziriri made the remarks during the ongoing City of Kwekwe 2026–2030 Strategic Planning meeting, where he stressed that adequate learning infrastructure was critical for achieving national education goals under Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
He said the ministry’s vision was to provide “competence-driven education for a socially and economically empowered society by the year 2030,” and warned that overcrowding in classrooms was undermining quality learning.
“As observed in Kwekwe Urban, Mbizo area in particular, our schools are very much congested, with Mbizo High School having a population of 2,900 learners,” Maziriri said. “Therefore, the need for decongesting schools like Manunure and Mbizo cannot be overemphasised. Our expectation is that council should take the lead in building another secondary school in the Mbizo area so that learning becomes easier for both teachers and learners.”
He said the ministry was concerned that some schools in Mbizo were still relying on hot-sitting, a practice where learners attend lessons in shifts due to limited classroom space.
“We need to do away with hot-sitting, which does not promote quality teaching,” he said.
Maziriri also raised concern over the rise of unregistered non-formal learning centres in the city’s high-density suburbs, saying they were compromising learning standards.
“We note with displeasure that council is rectifying the establishment of so-called non-formal centres in many areas in the Mbizo community. These are substandard schools which do not provide quality teaching,” he said. “We call upon council to disapprove these small schools in favour of constructing proper learning facilities.”
Turning to council-run schools, Maziriri urged the city to ensure all its institutions are fully compliant with ministry regulations, beginning with Chana Primary School, which he said had operated without formal registration for too long.
“Chana is long overdue for registration. It has a deputy head but does not have a substantive head because the school is not registered under the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. We call upon council to speed up the registration of the school,” he said.
Maziriri further encouraged the city to support innovation and sustainable development projects within its schools, including the adoption of digital learning platforms.
“We want these schools to have adequate computers and laptops so that even during disasters learning can continue,” he said. “We should not continue piling textbooks which are of limited use.
The City of Kwekwe is currently developing a five-year strategic plan that outlines service delivery priorities up to 2030.
