The establishment of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Private School by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chinhoyi has fulfilled the community’s quest for quality education in Mashonaland West Province in Zimbabwe.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help has already become a giant in the education fraternity, churning out the best academic results in four years of its foundation. It is one of the few schools that offer a Cambridge curriculum in Chinhoyi.
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The school which is the initiative of Bishop Raymond Mupandasekwa started in 2020 and was built with the support of friends and funding partners which include RSHM Sisters, Papal Foundation, Jesuit Mission, Misean Cara, Redemptorist Solidarity Office for Africa and Madagascar, Sisters of St. Peter Claver, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Missio Munich, Papal Foundation and the Italian Bishops’ Conference.
It is located in the former dumping area of Brundish in Chinhoyi which has been transformed into a spectacle of glamour with buildings of the best architectural work uniquely standing out.
OLPH also stands out in its academic, and sporting excellence, and the school’s learners are rated to be highly well-behaved in Chinhoyi.
The current enrolment for the school is 210 with the majority of students coming from Chinhoyi and the furthest from Banket.
The Headmaster of OLPH, Mr. Onias Zindoga Hamandishe, shared that there is a positive trajectory in the performance of learners considering that they came from different educational backgrounds.
“The school started offering Cambridge in 2023 and we have witnessed a great change in the performance of our learners. The majority are above average in their studies,” said Mr. Hamandishe.
He added that the Cambridge curriculum offers scientific inventions that help learners to come up with practical ideas and implement them. OLPH, according to Mr. Hamandishe, has adopted a communication policy where all learners are expected to communicate in English in and out of school as a way of improving their communication skills.
He further noted that OLPH exposes learners to a variety of sporting activities as the school offers both traditional and non-traditional disciplines such as hockey, cricket, swimming, rugby, and tennis.
“The school boasts of an Olympic-size swimming pool. The students’ performance in sports is excellent and can compete with seasoned schools like Lomagundi College. We are also proud of the All Saints Cross Country marathon which we successfully hold every year and this draws together people from Chinhoyi who also participate in the event,” Mr. Hamandishe said.
The student-teacher ratio gives the teachers enough time to attend to each learner.
He also commented on the behaviour of OLPH learners which he said is influenced by the Catholic ethos and the day-to-day spiritual activities such as Holy Mass, celebrated every Friday, The Angelus, and the Faith Formation which he said all help to shape the learners’ behaviour.
OLPH School offers learners practical subjects that increase their innovation.
The school has well-ventilated state-of-the-art classrooms, equipped with interactive smart boards that offer learners a friendly educational environment. Although construction work is not yet complete, the school is in full throttle in offering the best educational services.
According to Mr. Hamandishe, they still need to construct more classroom blocks and hostels since the school will soon transform into a boarding school. He told this reporter that they intend to start Form 1 in 2025 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help High School which is already at an advanced stage with the construction of the basement and the first floor almost complete.
Classrooms at OLPH Private School are equipped with interactive smart boards that encourage learners’ engagement and accommodate different learning styles.
OLPH has since transformed the education system in the Diocese with its autonomy to implement new ideas.
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Mr. Hamandishe added that students from the school will be globally competitive which in a way promotes the notion that Catholic Schools always lead while he expressed the institution’s dream to become an international school enrolling from other African countries and beyond.
Chinhoyi Diocese has nine secondary schools including Kutama, St. Alberts, St. Boniface, Mutondwe, Marymount, Hwata, St. Ruperts, Sacred Heart, and the upcoming Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and five primary schools which include Mutondwe, Sacred Heart, St. Alberts, Hwata, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Mahombekombe, and St. Ruperts.
