PUMULA High School in Bulawayo, Louis Mountbatten Primary School and St Sebastian Secondary School have been lauded for excelling in the 2022 national clean schools competition under the Catch Them Young programme.
The competition was supported by the Primary and Secondary Education ministry, the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and Eversharp 15M where schools competed in creating a cleaner and safer environment for pupils in the country.
Pumula High School emerged the winner of the competition, followed by Louis Mountbatten School in Belvedere, Harare, while St Sebastian Secondary School in Matabeleland South came third.
In his keynote address during the award ceremony, acting secretary in the Primary and Secondary Education ministry Cyprian Masotsha said: “Our desire and hope is to see young people taking the lead in creating a clean, safe and healthy Zimbabwe that we want. This competition enhances the thrust on education for sustainable development. The clean schools competition has opened avenues and challenges us to adopt the cleanliness displayed by the environmental clubs that participated in the competition. This gives us the mandate to up our responsibility towards the environment on waste management issues.”
Masotsha said his ministry would vigorously adopt the clean schools concept in over 10 000 learning institutions nationwide.
“We have also been awakened to the need to interpret our day-to-day activities with the Catch Them Young programme,” he said.
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The winners of the competition were awarded solar panels, inverters, batteries and certificates.
EMA director-general Steady Kangata said such competitions contributed to the preservation of the environment.
“The motivation behind the competitions is to instil environmental stewardship from an early age, and to allow the protection of the environment getting into the future. As EMA, we bank on the young generation, which is the major resource for the country.”
Kangata urged schools in the country to have solid waste management plans.