-as it introduces mandatory weekend studies
TONDERAI SAHARO
MASVINGO CITY-Former group A school, Victoria High School is on the road to reclaim its position as one of the best government run day and boarding schools in the country.
Having made headlines in previous years for all the wrong reasons, authorities have put the past behind and picked up the broken pieces.
The school attained a 100% pass rate in the 2023 A level ZIMSEC results, a feat that the school had last achieved years ago.
The deteriorating pass rate at the boarding school located in Masvingo City had become a cause for concern among stakeholders, as it has reached alarming levels, with the school faring worse than some remote rural schools in the province.
Victoria High is now beaming with confidence to reclaim its lost pride while riding on the success of the 2023 A level results.
A total of 149 students sat for the A level examinations in Science, Commercial and Arts subjects with the school recording 13 students with 15 points and above.
Tinotendaishe Makunike was the highest and best student scoring 20 points in Mathematics Biology and Chemistry.
Engelbert Chimbwari, the head who joined the school in 2020, said the school is slowly coming out of the woods and the A level results are just an indicator that the school is on the right path.
“These results are just wonderful, it’s been a longtime since we achieved such results, even some teachers who have been with this school for the past 10 years are impressed.
“This is a sign that we are on the right track and as a team we are taking the school back to its former glory,” Chimbwari said.
He said they owed the remarkable turn over of the school to strategic planning and rigorous teacher supervision schedule by the authorities, while discipline for the students has become the new motto.
“Our students, whether they are day or borders, we introduced the daily morning study that begins before normal lessons start.
“We want our students to be disciplined, allowing them to concentrate more on their school work and you find that all our students are mandated to come for weekend study at the school,” he said.
The school has a strong 55 committed teaching staff who are monitored daily and submit reports on activities undertaken to the head.
The teachers have volunteered part of their time to monitor the student’s study programs
He however bemoaned the delay in settling tuition fees by some parents and guardians as derailing the school’s
ambitions.
“One of the major challenges that the school is facing is the delay in settling fees by some parents.
“For the school to achieve good results we need resources, each department at the school requires resources to meet its targets, as well as meeting the welfare of students,” Chimbwari said.
He said away from the academic front the school is busy creating a conducive environment for learning for its students by renovating classroom blocks as well the hostels for the boarders.
The Tower House boys’ hostel was the first to be refurbished and is almost complete.
The school has and enrolment of 1 319 with 600 of them being borders.
A visit to the school showed that the school has turned the corner as learners were neatly dressed and busy concentrating on their work as opposed to previous situation where Vic High pupils were known for roaming the CBD in uniform.
The head is upbeat about the strides achieved so far and promised better days ahead for the school.
“We are now among the few schools in the province that is offering all10 vocational technical subjects and in the near future we want to be also the first school to introduce the Xangani language as a subject for all students,” he said.
