WHEN Mr Sifundo Ncube conceived the idea of opening a school in Victoria Falls in 2020, his vision was to establish a learning institution that would match the standards of a city.
Victoria Falls was conferred city status in December 2019 amid concerns about lack of infrastructure and social amenities that go with city status.
The city has one public high school, one church-run secondary school and close to 10 private colleges.
Mr Ncube, a science teacher by profession, started teaching at Mkhosana Adventist Secondary School more than a decade ago from where he retired to open City College.
The school is located at Sorpers Arcade and also has a primary school located in the industrial site.
City College has become known for providing quality education in the city, posting 75 percent and 86 percent pass rate for Advanced Level in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
For Ordinary Level, the pass rate was 35 percent in 2021.
The school started with a class of 45 Form 4s. In 2021 the school had 388 learners.
More than 100 candidates wrote O-Level and 30 wrote A-Level examinations at the school in 2021 and number grew last year although enrolment generally went down thereafter.
There was a 100 percent pass rate for IsiNdebele, Family and Religious Studies, Literature in English, Sociology, Geography, Biology and Physics at A-Level last year. Business Studies and History recorded 92 percent each.
Mr Ncube said parents wanted an uninterrupted learning system and the college has not failed.
“Parents wanted effective learning, which is why enrolment was high during Covid-19. So when I started I wanted to help children who had no place to learn. So seeing that the city had been given city status, I felt there was need to for education standards to also match that status,” said Mr Ncube.
“So together with Mr Mehluli Sibanda we opened the school to help the community, which is why we are not concerned about making a profit. It is our wish that everyone feels part of the school.”
The school has 15 qualified teachers and Mr Ncube, who is the director, teaches sciences.
City College partnered with Lupane State University and learners who do sciences subjects are taken to the university’s campus in Lupane where they camp to do practicals at the institution’s laboratories, giving them an edge over their counterparts from other schools in Matabeleland North province.
For sports, City College uses Baobab Primary School grounds.
“We are still growing but we have enough learning space and furniture. We are, however, still soliciting for help for computers and science lab. We have partnered with LSU who are offering us hi-tech labs for our learners,” said Mr Ncube.
In an effort to give learners competence based learning in line with the new education curriculum, City College offers oral driving lessons for its learners, and has also partnered with a number of tourism operators to give learners hands on training on some selected critical courses such as cookery, waitering, tour guiding, boat captaincy and others that are needed in the tourism sector.
Learners also get attached with some companies to acquire industrial skills in fulfilment of the competence-based learning requirements.
“We have been operating for two years and we have proven that this is what we can do. Our vision is to be the best private institution in all faculties by 2025. Our motto is ‘I can do it,’ which is a motivation for learners to have confidence,” said Mr Ncube.
The school is in the process of registering as a Zimsec examination Centre and has been using Sizonda Secondary School for the past two years.
Plans are underway to also introduce short professional courses.
Some of the school’s biggest challenges include lack of funding and limited participation by parents.
Efforts are being made to engage the local authority for land to build permanent school facilities, with plans to open a boarding school underway.
Mr Ncube appealed to the community to come on board and support the school.
City College School Development Committee vice chair Mr Joseph Mazvaravana said the school’s long term plan is to proffer local solutions to challenges in the city.
He reiterated the call for the community to embrace the school as its own.
“As we interacted with the business community we realised there is a skills gap on locals and so as City College we have embarked on a drive to work with the industry. Hotels and tour operators want to employ locally but there is a skills gap and so we have taken it upon ourselves to take kids to the industry so they learn skills so that they also become employable,” said Mr Mazvaravana.
He said the school strives for visibility and sense of ownership by the community.
City College learners take part in various extra-curricular activities such as schools debates and clean up campaigns among other activities. – The Chronicle
