Story by Tafara Chikumira
GOVERNMENThas expressed satisfaction with the orderly commencement of the 2026 school calendar in Midlands Province, following inspections conducted at selected schools in Kwekwe and Gweru.
The assessment was led by Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Honourable Angeline Gata, who, together with a team of school inspectors, visited learning institutions on Wednesday and Thursday to evaluate preparedness, compliance and infrastructure standards.
The exercise forms part of routine government oversight conducted at the start of each school term to identify operational gaps and provide evidence-based feedback to inform policy implementation during the academic year.
“We have managed to see the great progress at most schools in the Midlands province. This is not a witch hunting exercise, but an exercise to ensure that the schools operate within the confines of the ministry’s demands. I will pick an example of a Kwekwe school which was collecting fees without a government burser.
“We simply advised them to get a government bursar for accountability. So you will realise that there are some gaps which can be solved, but generally the schools we have visited in Midlands province proved that they were planned for the commencement of the school term,” Honourable Gata said.
Apart from the general assessment on the state of operations in schools, the ministry was also assessing infrastructure upgrades at schools.
“I must say we were particularly impressed by the upgrades at Chaplin High School. The team has overhauled their practical halls and equipped them with some modern equipment. At new schools, there is room for improvement as well. As government, we want more schools so that we reduce the teacher to leaner ratio. That is our thrust as we are not here to target the closure of schools,” Honourable Gata said.
The schools inspection exercise, which has become a tradition during the commencement of each school term is critical as government thrives to ensure the delivery of quality education across the country in line with the National Development Strategy 2.
