Formed in 1999 by businessman, Innocent Benza, Herentals Group of Colleges and Schools has made significant strides in empowering the girl child academically as well as in other various disciplines.
By Our Correspondent
With colleges that have been established in various parts of the country, Herentals currently has a total enrolment of 16 000 students covering primary and secondary students as well as those undertaking professional courses.
Of the 16 000 students, 9 500 are females.
What has been remarkable is the high pass rate and achievements by the girl child, as shown by academic results as well as a number of success stories in sporting disciplines.
Results for the November 2015 show an outstanding performance by the girl child and this, according to Herentals Group of Colleges and Schools spokesperson, Kudakwashe Remba, is in line with efforts aimed at empowering and encouraging the girl child to excel in life as well as demystifying the norm that the girl child is inferior.
According to Remba, this is implemented in a manner that does not seek to undermine or exclude the boy child but to create equal opportunities.
“Our results for the November 2016 results show that the girl child has managed to excel academically and we are also proud that some of them have developed their careers in several disciplines,” Remba said.
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“Out of the 50 Grade 7 pupils who obtained four to 8 units from our three primary schools, 30 were girls and 180 out of the 306 students who had 5 O’ level passes were female.
“As for the Advanced Level students, there were 23 female students out of the 43 students with a minimum of 15 points and 110 females out of 196 students had at least two Advanced Level passes.”
Since its establishment, Herentals Group of Colleges and Schools has had a minimum of 30 of its former students graduating from various universities across the country, according to Remba.
Besides the academic achievements, Herentals has also produced top notch female footballers.
“One of our former students from Herentals Queens Football Club, Erina Jeke is playing for the Mighty Warriors and Herentals Queens Football Club is comprised mainly of former and current students of Herentals College. The team came second in the 2015 league and they are currently the log leaders in the 2016 league,” he said.
“We also have one of our students, Skhululekhile Nyoni, who is playing premiership football with Flame Lily Football Club.”
And as a way of further advancing the education of the girl child, Remba said plans were afoot to establish a girls’ boarding school.
“The college has plans of establishing a state-of-the-art girls high boarding school to support the girl child. We feel we can help the country’s efforts at developing the girl child and creating equal opportunities, hence our desire to establish this boarding school,” said Remba.
“In 2017, we will establish primary schools in Rusape, Gweru, Kwekwe, Kadoma, Mutare, Marondera, Greendale and Glen Norah but these will cater for boys and girls. We will also open new secondary schools in Kadoma, Beitbridge, Zvishavane, Chiredzi, Rusape, Kadoma, Victoria Falls and Kariba.”
Herentals is a recipient of the Zimbabwe Leadership Awards (Zila) while its owner, Benza was recently awarded for his role in the development of the education sector in Zimbabwe.
The Zila awards acknowledge remarkable business leaders and organisations in Zimbabwe for their continued commitment to leadership excellence, developing best practices and innovative strategies.
