In line with the heritage-based Education 5.0, which is hinged on a five-pillar framework aimed at building a complete individual capable of navigating the changing global terrain, Chitungwiza-based Nyatsime College continues to ride on the crest of the developmental wave as it opened a clinic and garment making factory on Saturday.
The memorial clinic, named after Dr Tommie Marie Samkange, who with her husband, Professor Stanlake Samkange, founded Nyatsime College on August 11 1960, is manned by a Nyatsime alumnus, Dr Kenneth Sawunyama.
It consists of a consultation room, a treatment room, two observation wards, a dispensary and a spacious waiting area.
Dr Samkange, a researcher and psychologist, left footprints on the academic landscape at home and abroad, beginning as an Associate Professor at Tuskegee (Alabama) Institute in 1964.
She was a chief educational psychologist for the Government of Zimbabwe from 1981 to 1994.
She died in 2021 aged 88.
Professor Stanlake Samkange, who became the first African graduate from Mashonaland in 1947 at Fort Hare, and the fifth black Zimbabwean to receive university education, was a teacher, journalist, novelist, church patron, and captain of industry. He died in 1988 at 66.
The college also set up an ultramodern garment making factory, with the capacity, not only to meet its school uniforms requirements, but to also cater for other schools and institutions.
It comprises straight machines, overlocking machines, an elasticator, button and buttonhole sewer, fusing machines and knitting machines.
Speaking at the opening, Securico Security Service chief executive, Dr Divine Ndhlukula, who was the guest of honour, commended Nyatsime College for undertaking the projects, saying they were in tandem with the Government’s thrust as epitomised in Education 5.0.
“The approach that Nyatsime College has taken is running in tandem with Education 5.0. We have witnessed the garment factory and a lot of other innovations,” she said. “This is what the Government and the world, especially the private sector, is looking for, that is, employing graduates that are ready to produce goods and services.
Dr Ndhlukula extolled the school’s leadership for keeping track with global trends with a new bias towards skills critical to industrialisation, as opposed to only bookish learning.
She implored other institutions to emulate Nyatsime College in ensuring that they produce learners who are ready to work, instead of seeking employment.
Nyatsime College principal, Dr Shepherd Masaraure, said having their own clinic was going to cut on the school’s healthcare expenditure by at least half.
“We know that for pupils to perform better they need to be healthy, as such, we have established a clinic here. The safety of our children is now guaranteed. Also, we were spending a lot of money engaging other private service providers,” he said.
Dr Masaraure said, the school refurbished the kitchen and the dining hall, and is now using user-friendly equipment. This has seen the school using charcoal-fired boilers and 300-litre oil jacketed pots for cooking, thereby significantly reducing electricity costs.
Concerning food provisions, Dr Masaraure said the school was on the right path, as the poultry project run at the school sees to that.
“We are doing chicken rearing, and we produce 600 chickens per cycle, which makes us self-sufficient. We also produce eggs for consumption by learners and staff, in addition to cattle projects,” he said.
On maintaining the school’s identity, the principal pointed out that challenges of uniformity would be curbed through the production of sufficient uniforms at the garment making factory at low cost.
Enthusiastic learners told The Herald that the skills impacted through hands-on projects will go a long way in making them fit into the real world after school. They are trained in cooking, sewing, agriculture, and carpentry, among other disciplines.
Some of the products learners produce are coffins and grace sealers, which can be a game changer should they venture into business full time.
Parents, who spoke to this publication, thanked the leadership of the school for equipping their children with life changing skills.
