The ManicaPost
Freedom Mutanda
Correspondent
MUTOVOTI Primary School from Chipinge outshone eight other schools to walk away with the first prize in a wildlife conservation competition held at Chibuwe Primary School yesterday.
The nine schools – Chibuwe, Ndunduma, Kondo, Tongogara, Musapingura, Sabi Valley, Mwacheta, Mutovoti and Maronga – battled it out for top honours in drama, poem recitation, poster design and drawing as well as quiz competition which was sponsored by African Wildlife Conservation Fund.
Each school, drawn from Musikavanhu Constituency, had 10 participants and the winners – Mutovoti Primary School – are set to visit Save Conservancy and enjoy a game drive.
African Wildlife Conservation Fund chief education officer, Mr Victor Chibaya said they held wildlife conservation campaigns in 16 schools which are in the Save Conservancy proximity as well as in Masvingo Province.
He expressed confidence that the partnership between African Wildlife Conservation Fund and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education will grow from strength to strength and help promote wildlife conservation.
“Our objective is to raise awareness on wildlife conservation through such competitions which we hold after visiting participating schools twice a term. I was impressed with the level of competition the participating teams showed. We hope to have a bigger and better competition next year,” he said.
On Monday, a similar competition was held at Gumira Primary School where Rimbi Primary came out tops ahead of six other schools.
The occasion was graced by Manicaland Deputy Provincial Education Director, Mr Richard Gabaza.
He expressed delight at how learners and teachers have embraced Education 5.0 whose thrust is to produce an all-rounder student ready to face the 21st Century challenges.
Mr Gabaza spoke out against child sexual molestation and gender-based violence.
He said: “I salute teachers and learners who rehearsed over a long period of time before coming to perform here. Education 5.0 promotes the use of skills and you have shown that you are up to it through the impressive presentations. However, there is room for improvement in poem writing and recital. We need to safeguard learners from rape, which has become rampant. Please, alert authorities when you witness that happening.”
The competitions were graced by officials from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the participating schools’ heads.
Tongogara Primary School head, Mr Alec Mlambo commended the organisers for the competition.
“This event was important in that it drove home the message on the need for wildlife conservation. We thank the organisers and sponsors for holding the competition,” he said.
