Improving infrastructure critical in education

Improving school infrastructure in rural Zimbabwe

It was with great honour and sense of commitment that Nhaka Foundation participated in the official handover ceremony of newly built classrooms at Govera Primary School a week ago. Nhaka Foundation has always sought for opportunities that ensure that children attending primary school in Zimbabwe are provided with a clean learning environment that also stimulates their cognitive and motor abilities during their growth phase.

Nhaka Foundations’ approach to ECD recognises that interventions are cumulative and synergistic, that the maximum benefit in one age group is derived from experiences in earlier age groups, and that interventions in one generation bring benefits to successive generations. The evidence is clear: it is in the early years of human life that the fundamentals of a child’s emotional, intellectual, social and physical development are laid, establishing the building blocks for a pathway into the future. Without good parenting, health, nutrition and education, developmental delays can occur that are difficult to correct later in life. Early childhood development (ECD) takes place in a range of settings: homes, schools, health facilities, early learning playgroups and community-based programmes.

Since establishment, ten years ago, Nhaka Foundation has continued to look for ways to improve access to education for our young children in Zimbabwe especially those that fall into the early childhood development space. Whilst we celebrated an entire school that has been constructed, Nhaka Foundation also wants to pay particular focus to early childhood development or what is known as ECD. ECD provides a strong foundation for entering school with the social, emotional, and pre-academic skills needed for learning.

We cannot afford not to invest in ECD. Not investing means a loss of opportunities but also contributes to the accumulation of inequalities and condemns generations to deprivation and under performance.

Here are some links to some articles on the work carried out at Govera Primary school;

https://www.thestandard.co.zw/2017/07/23/partnerships-yield-results-rural-schools/

https://www.newsday.co.zw/2017/07/14/absentee-ministers-hurt-electoral-chances-zanu-pf-mp/

https://www.newsday.co.zw/2017/01/30/investing-ecd-way-go/

http://www.herald.co.zw/school-gets-83-000-facelift/

Until next time,

Patrick Makokoro

Executive Director

Nhaka Foundation