VULNERABLE but intelligent pupils who completed their Grade Seven or Form Four this year will benefit from Presidential Scholarships through the Zimbabwe Foundation for Education with Production (Zimfep).
Zimfep which was established in 1981, was mandated to carry out educational experiments to infuse the concept of Education with Production (EWP) into the Zimbabwean school curriculum.
The scholarships will target pupils from rural areas which include Binga, Nkayi, Bulilima and Tsholotsho in Matabeleland and other rural districts across the country.
The beneficiaries will be afforded a chance to learn at boarding schools, courtesy of President Mnangagwa.
The scholarship scheme is part of a cocktail of measures that the Second Republic has come up with or resuscitated to ensure that every Zimbabwean is empowered to play a role in the development of the country under the philosophy of leaving no one and no place behind.
A total of 100 vulnerable but intelligent pupils who completed Grade Seven and Form Four last year benefited from the same Zimfep scholarship scheme which was established before Independence at refugee camps in Zambia and Mozambique to help youths that had dropped out of school to join the liberation struggle. Last year’s beneficiaries were drawn from all the eight rural provinces.
Notable leaders that pioneered the Zimfep programme include the Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Eveline Ndlovu, her predecessor Ambassador Cain Mathema, Cde Mathias Mutobi, Cde Johnson Mnkandla and Cde Roma Vundla Nyathi among others who were in the Zipra camps in Zambia.
The pioneers of the scheme at Zanla camps in Mozambique are Cde Fay Chung, Cde Dzingai Mutumbuka, Cde Herbert Murerwa and Cde Ephraim Chitofu, who is an executive member of Zimfep, among others.
There were about 15 000 of these children and after independence many were reportedly denied entry into formal school system because they were perceived to have been militarised and were housed at Loreto Mission at Cross Roads outside Kwekwe.
The founders decided to mobilise resources and bought farms in each province where schools were established.
Land was acquired on farms at Fatima and George Silundika High schools in Matabeleland North, Jason Ziyaphapha High in Matabeleland South, Nkululeko High in Midlands, Mupfure primary and secondary schools as well as Mupfure College in Mashonaland West, Rusununguko High in Mashonaland East, Chindunduma 1 and 2 in Mashonaland Central and Mavhudzi High in Manicaland.
Only Masvingo has no such school although Zimfep was recently given land to build one.
In an interview, Minister Ndlovu said her office was working on modalities to have headmasters submit names of brilliant but vulnerable pupils who are going to be the 2023 beneficiaries.
She said the Second Republic is committed to rewarding hard work hence no child should be denied quality secondary school education due to a poor background.
Minister Ndlovu said children from some rural districts were of the view that boarding school is only for the rich hence the need to change the narrative.
She said Zimfep schools will also help the selected beneficiaries master the art of problem-solving even after school which is necessary for the development of communities.
“We have learners who will benefit from the scholarship, we will pick five from each of our districts where the most vulnerable families are found. The selected beneficiaries should be from poor backgrounds who cannot afford to pay school fees and I am taking them to boarding schools. We will also have selected five from the same districts who completed Form Four and are proceeding to A-Level,” she said. – The Chronicle
