TONDERAI SAHARO
The City of Masvingo has filled in three vacancies of school heads left vacant following the retirement of the incumbents recently.
The council’s director of Housing and Community Services, Simbarashe Mandishona confirmed the appointment of John Muzamani as the new head at Francis Aphiri Primary School while Leonard Julius and Phineas Muchati will be in charge of Shakashe and Rujeko primary schools respectively
Their appointments are with effect from 1 April, 2024.
Muzamani replaced veteran educationist Henry Maregere at Francis Aphiri who retired last year after steering the biggest primary school in the province to be one of the best, producing excellent grade seven results year in year out.
This is despite battling a huge enrolment due to the high demand for places due to its proximity to the poorly planned Victoria Ranch suburb.
The new head is upbeat over his new journey in the education sector after spending seven years at Beardmore primary school in rural Bikita before coming to Masvingo.
“I am excited to Join Francis Aphiri Primary and I am ready for the new tasks ahead.
“The school has challenges just like any public educational institution in the country, but the major one which I am going to work on as soon as possible is to address the learning space for our pupils.
“The school, has a shortage of classrooms blocks and there is also limited space for the construction of additional classrooms blocks and we want to start constructing storey classrooms to ease the challenge,” he said.
Muzamani is a holder of a Master’s in education and currently working towards completing his PHD in education later this year.
Julias is another educator of note whose 26 years of experience in the sector will play a pivotal role in steering Shakashe primary school to greater heights.
He told The Midweek Watch that he is upbeat about joining Shakashe and said he will ensure all the school’s projects initiated by his predecessors come to reality.
He joins the school after heading Mukotosi primary school in Chivi for 6 years and holds a MBA in Science Physical Education and Sports .
“Shakashe primary school already has some developmental projects already in motion, which include infrastructural development. We also work hard on improving and maintain the school’s pass rate which is already very high.
“Basically I will be riding on what has been initiated by former school heads and will ensure all these are achieved,” he said.
He called on for unity of purpose and teamwork between the school staff as well as the School Development Committee SDC for the school’s developmental trajectory to be a reality.
For Rujeko primary school the new head Muchati believes he has an uphill task to transform the school both in terms of infrastructural developments, improving the school’s pass rate and be champions on the sporting front.
However, he said he has what it takes to ensure the school in the next few years will be an academic and sporting power house in the province.
“The school infrastructure needs urgent attention, currently we want to fence the entire school yard and some of our classroom blocks need repairs.
“I am grateful to the teaching staff and members of the SDC who have given me a warm welcome and they all now understand my vision for the school, personally I love sports and besides working towards improving the current pass rate from 90 percent, the school will soon be a sporting powerhouse in all disciplines,” he said.
Muchati is a holder of an MBA in business administration as well as a BA in Educational Management and various educational qualifications he obtained since joining the teaching profession in 2005 after completing a diploma in education from Morngetser Teachers College.
