The Sunday Mail
Rudo Mandiro
Chirumba High School, located in the heart of Bikita district, Masvingo province, has been turned into a “Garden of Eden”.
The place is full of flowers, vegetables and fruit trees.
The institution’s motto, which appears on the signpost, is “Grow your own, Cook your own, Eat your own”. A look at the situation on the ground shows that the school abides by this motto.
The greenery makes Chirumba one of the best learning institutions practising permaculture in the province.
One may wonder: What is permaculture?
It is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems.
It entails maximum utilisation of pieces of land such as backyard and balcony gardens to grow different plants.
During a recent media tour of the school, the headmaster, Mr Njuma Mudhara, narrated how he turned the school into a permaculture success story.
“This innovation started in 2016, after some workshops in Mount Hampden, when the Schools and Colleges Permaculture Programme (SCOPE) trained teachers to come up with different projects for self-sustainability.
“Chirumba High School first ventured into a banana tree project, whose success went viral in the province. This was due to its significance to school self-sustainability,” he said.
A borehole was sunk at the school through a donation from SCOPE and the Environmental Management Agency.
In the school’s horticulture project, only organic matter is used to provide nutrients to the plants. Chemicals such as fertiliser and pesticides are not used at all.
This, according to the headmaster, has led to the production of quality bananas, which have seen the school land gold medals in agriculture competitions.
The school also runs a piggery project, from which it expects to start biogas production. The institution’s success was made possible through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s Schools Improvement Grant (SIG) and assistance from UNICEF.
Funds from the SIG, supported by UK Aid and the KFW Development Bank, were used to sink another borehole for the school’s projects.
“There are water points at various spots so that learners don’t crowd in one area,” said Mr Mudhara.
The water supply was also vital at the height of Covid-19, as regular hand-washing was a key requirement in curbing the spread of the virus. Mr Marathon Juma, who teaches Agriculture, said: “The new curriculum calls for hands-on activities. At the school, we started income-generating projects that include aquaculture, horticulture and piggery.”
Aquaculture, he said, is highly rewarding.
“Our learners engage in hands-on activities and this will be useful to them outside school. They will easily fit in society as they will be able to make a living out of the available resources,” added Mr Juma.
Edmore Musarurwa, a Form Three learner at the school, thanked the authorities for the empowering projects.
“l am an aspiring fish farmer, and through the aquaculture project at our school, I have learnt a lot of things. This is pleasing. Creativity has long started bearing fruit at our school,” he said.
Amazing Musiwedzingo, who is in Lower Sixth, said the school had helped her achieve good grades in Agriculture.
“We grow different crops and sell them to the local community. Such projects are important as they prepare us for life after school. We will share the knowledge with others. This will certainly help our families,” said Musiwedzingo.
Chirumba High School projects are in line with the Go Green campaign, which has seen several companies regreening their workspaces, rooftops and road verges.
The process involves restoring barren, degraded or deforested land to a healthy ecological state. This is achieved by planting vegetation such as trees, shrubs, grass or sustainable crops.
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