Self-Sustaining Projects Vital to School Survival

Makhosethu Ndlovu | 30 September 2024

In the face of ongoing financial pressures, schools are increasingly turning to self-sustaining projects to secure their operations and maintain educational standards. Amhlophe High School, marking its 40th anniversary, has become a leading example of this trend, with various initiatives aimed at generating crucial revenue for the institution.

Speaking at the anniversary celebration, guest of honor and wife to the Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Colonel Miniyothabo Chiwenga pledged significant support for the school’s ongoing efforts. She committed to donating a borehole to ensure a steady water supply, as well as computers to enhance the school’s technological capabilities.

Beyond these external contributions, Amhlophe High School has taken active steps to generate its own income. School head Thokozile Tshabalala emphasized that agricultural projects have been at the forefront of the school’s strategy to sustain daily operations and meet financial demands.

” We have a fowl run project, where we are keeping broilers and Sasso and we also have a garden , where we are doing vegetables and now we have a green house where we have 1600 plants of tomatoes , that are going to be matured in the next 3 weeks ,

” So we are still looking for market for our products , we also have started a mushroom project that we have just started ,” said Tshabalala

Tshabalala also highlighted that these project benefits many students, as some students struggle to pay fees .

” This is to assist, because we have a problem of fees payment and we also realised that most of our learners in this school come from child headed families or families headed by old grannies , so we start a project to assist in the funds ,

” Because we cannot rely on fees . School fees alone is not enough . So whatever it is ,we do , for instance just this year we commissioned a new bus , despite all the problem we try and push to make sure things happen at Amhlophe , so we use our projects for that ,” she said .

She also highlighted the challenges they are facing in their projects.

” We are trying, although we need help like we said , we need another borehole, we need computers and fortunately the guest of honour has promised us a borehole and she has also promised us computers , I think we’ll get there .” She added .

The school’s dedication to financial self-reliance highlights a growing movement among educational institutions to innovate and create lasting solutions for long-term survival.