Girl pupils flock to Plumtree High School

By Sukulwenkosi Dube

History was made today at Plumtree High School as girls walked into class at the previously boys only school.

The institution started enrolling girls for Advanced Level science classes only last year before Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora allowed school authorities to enrol female pupils from Form One to Form Six.

This was after the school head, Sipo Kumalo, submitted a request to the Minister during his visit to the institution.

The move is expected to see the school attaining its targeted enrolment due to the overwhelming response from girls seeking places there.

Mangwe District Education Officer Headman Mpofu said the response from parents was overwhelming and the enrolment process was ongoing.

“Plumtree High School which was previously a boys school was granted permission to enrol girls for the first term this year. Pupils have been coming in numbers and the process of enrolling pupils is ongoing.

“I’m yet to collect the figures but the report that has come to me so far is that the bulk of them are Form 1 pupils and day scholars. We also have pupils transferring from other schools. This is a positive development because it’ll go a long way in reviving the school,” said Mpofu.

He said a hostel had been prepared for boarding girl pupils.

A senior staff member at the school said the enrolment this term was expected to double last term’s figure.

The official said 40 Form One boarding girl pupils had already settled in the school by yesterday morning. He said the school had so far managed to enrol about 90 girl boarders from Form One to Upper Six.

The official said the hostel for girls had a capacity to house 120 pupils and it was easy to create space for them as there was a hostel that had been lying idle due to low enrolment.

He said girl day scholars were expected to come in large numbers today when schools open.

“Although we aren’t done with enrolling girl pupils as parents are still coming, we expect our enrolment this year to be double last term’s figure which means that we might have about 600 pupils this year which is our targeted enrolment.

“So far as I speak we have 40 Form 1 girl boarders at the school and 50 more will be here by the end of the day. Tomorrow (today) we expect about 200 day scholar girls to arrive for opening day. This means that the initiative of introducing girls in the school has helped with about 300 girl pupils,” said the official.

A parent from Rangemore suburb in Plumtree, Daina Ngwenya, who secured a Form One place for her daughter at the school, said the location of the school was convenient as her daughter did not have to walk a long distance to reach school.

“We appreciate this move to turn Plumtree High School into a mixed school because the girls only turned to one school which is Phakamani High School upon completing their Grade Seven.

“What’s important is for pupils to be dedicated towards their studies and they’ll record good results,” she said.

At the beginning of last year, the school had 176 pupils out of an expected 600 pupils. Last term the figure rose to 302 pupils. The Chronicle