By Flata Kavinga
Sherwood Park Primary School headmistress Dzokerai Mapiku has outlined serious infrastructure and resource challenges affecting the school, citing shortages in classrooms, water and sanitation facilities, staff accommodation, ICT resources and sporting equipment.
Mapiku was speaking during a donation ceremony held at the school in Sherwood, Kwekwe, where former pupil Joel Mbano donated learning materials and provided assistance to underprivileged learners.
She said the school, which has an enrolment of about 600 learners, is operating with only 14 classrooms, four of which are being shared by combined classes due to limited space.
“Some grades are combined in one classroom because we do not have enough accommodation for our learners, including Grade Two, Grade Four, Grade Five and ECD,” Mapiku said.
She also raised concerns over inadequate water and sanitation facilities, noting that the school has only two functional water points and a total of 10 squat toilets, five for boys and five for girls, which she said falls short of the recommended learner-to-toilet ratio.
According to Mapiku, staff accommodation remains a major challenge, with only one teachers’ house available to accommodate 21 teachers. As a result, several teachers commute from town daily, sometimes arriving late due to transport challenges.
“We rely on public transport and occasional lifts, which affects reporting times,” she said.
In terms of technology, Mapiku said the school has only five laptops, which are insufficient to meet the demands of ICT lessons for the entire school. Although the school is connected to electricity, power supply is limited to the administration block and a few nearby classrooms, leaving most learning spaces without access.
She further said the school lacks internet connectivity, forcing teachers to use personal mobile data for research and lesson preparation.
Mapiku also highlighted shortages in sporting equipment and uniforms, including for newly introduced sporting codes such as foot golf, saying the school does not have the necessary facilities or equipment to support the programmes.
She said the donation by Mbano, which included school shoes, satchels, stationery and payment of school fees for selected learners, would help ease some of the immediate challenges faced by the school.
Mbano, a former pupil at the school, said his donation was meant to give back to the community and support learners from disadvantaged backgrounds.
