THE Nkayi community is up in arms with the headmistress at Mpumelelo High School whom it accuses of being disrespectful and arrogant whenever they complain about the poor pass rate at the school.
The villagers blame the head’s attitude for the 6% pass rate recorded at the school in last year’s Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) examinations.
The school is located in ward 22, Nkayi South and has a catchment area of nine villages and five feeder primary schools — Mtshatshane, Katasa, Zenka, Mabayi and Mdlawuzweni.
The villagers told Southern Eye that school head Vongai Masunda was allegedly running down the school.
School development committee (SDC) chairperson Doreen Sunduza accused Masunda of not consulting before making critical decisions.
“She [ school head] sidelines and undermines the SDC,” she said.
“She disrespects the local traditional leadership labelling them uneducated. Whenever parents air their grievances, she lifts the tribal card and plays victim instead of finding ways to improve the school.”
Sunduza also accused Masunda of unilaterally raising school fees leading to clashes with the community.
- Nkayi villagers, school head clash over poor results
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“The issue went as far as the district office and it was nullified. Then came the 2024 Zimsec O’ level examination pass rate hitting its all-time low of 6%, second from bottom in the district,” she said.
Village head Dumisani Sibanda described the school head as arrogant.
“She disrespects and undermines the local traditional leadership and community at large. She runs the school like a private entity, does not engage parents, this is shown by attendance statistics at school meetings,” he said.
He said they tried to engage the ministry since 2023, with little success.
“We were disrespected and labelled uneducated. We proceeded to the district office and met the district schools inspector identified as Matshazi. He accompanied us back to Mpumelelo and we had a meeting together with the school administration,” Sibanda said.
“We had a resolution to change the old SDC committee the following week and also discussed the issue of school fees. Nothing fruitful came out of the meeting as the headmistress threatened to unleash anti-riot police on the people and openly declared that she was untouchable, gloating that whatever we say will not work.
“All we want is for our school to produce good results, we want service delivery, we don’t know whether we don’t have the right to demand service delivery as parents.”
Another village head Ndabazabo Ncube said the school, with more than 600 learners, had a library, computer laboratory, science laboratory and classrooms that needed minor repairs, doors and windows.
“The library was fully equipped. I hear there are no longer any books in the library. The science lab also faces a shortage of chemicals for children to do experiments,” Ncube said.
“As the leaders of this community, we wish our school to improve and we wish to see children coming from all corners of the country. We want our school to be ranked among the top in the district both academically and infrastructure-wise.”
Nkayi Community Parliament Speaker Moses Ncube appealed to authorities to resolve the issue for the good of learners.
“The authorities need to provide counselling to the staff members who are said to have become indifferent to members of the community who demand answers to the perceived low performance by the school.
“As a former teacher at Mpumelelo High School, I experienced that and we had no problem at all because there was a healthy balance in the cultural outlook of teachers deployed to the school. Leadership is a positive influence and I think that is where the magic lies.”
Masunda declined to comment referring Southern Eye to the district schools inspector.
Nkayi district schools inspector Temba Ndhlovu also refused to comment saying the issue has not been reported to his office.
“If they [villagers] have issues they are supposed to bring them, as far as I know, there is nothing of that sort on my table,” he said.
