HOT-SEATING has been blamed for poor pass rates in Matabeleland North schools, as a fallout over last year’s examination results simmers. Ruth Ngwenya Own Correspondent
Mosi oa Tunya High School headmaster Ronald Sibanda on Saturday attributed the school’s poor performance to hot-seating and the school’s large enrolment rate.
Sibanda said the school has 1 580 students, with 78 teachers, making it difficult for teachers to interact with and assist learners adequately.
“With the number of students that we have, we do hot-seating which limits the number of hours that students have to learn to only five a day, which is not enough for teachers to fully assist students.
“Some teachers end up teaching on weekends.
“I do not know how this can be solved, but l believe if another community school could be built, which would charge almost the same school fees as ours, the enrolment figures would reduce and results produced would improve.”
Hot-seating is the practice where some students learn in the morning and then make way for another group which comes to school in the afternoon.
The headmaster said out of 118 ‘A’ Level pupils who wrote Arts subjects this year, only 20 managed to get 10 points and above, eight in commercials and one in the sciences.
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He, however, said the overall pass rate was yet to be analysed.
Sibanda said there were two other secondary schools in the area, but parents preferred taking their children to Mosi oa Tunya because it charged cheaper fees.
Sibanda also said shortage of textbooks and lack of a community library contributed to low pass rate at the school.
Meanwhile, Victoria Falls Hotel has an ongoing project of painting classes, changing doors, building concrete study benches, situating air conditioners at the computer lab and planting lemon trees at the school.
Victoria Falls Hotel general manager Giulio Togni said the hotel will conduct a continuous assessment and support the school to make the environment conducive for learning.
“We want to be associated with the youths and make the environment conducive for learning. We want students to be proud to be at Mosi oa Tunya,” Togni said.
Speaking at the same event, Falls mayor Sifiso Mpofu urged tourism players to support local youths by giving them first preference and opportunities.
