Prefects learn leadership skills
CHILDREN as young as 10 years are taking up leading roles in school and are being equipped and sharpened in leadership skills by Zoe Trust.
A seed has a potential to germinate, but if not subjected to a proper process it will remain a seed.
On January 25 and 27, Zoe Trust trained pupils from Thorncroft and Windview Primary Schools in Ruwa at Spey Bay and Cheltenharm Retreat Centre respectively. The pupils were told that they had been given authority to help staff members to enforce the school rules hence were taught the roles and duties of prefects, time management, maintaining academic excellence, team work, assertiveness, grooming and deportment.
The director of Zoe Trust, Mr Fungai Gwiriri, who presided over the trainings, did an excellent job and all the pupils came out of the workshops confident to go and execute their mandate.
“It was a blessing to see the young pupils raring to go after the training,” said Mr Gwiriri.
When asked about his passion for training the young, the director went on to say that he was pushed by his personal experiences since he grew up in a poor community where he never got exposure to leadership skills like other students who attended private and group ‘A’ schools.
When he was at University of Zimbabwe doing his first degree in Religious Studies, he discovered that he could not match others and was way back in life.
“My passion today is that I want these kids to be exposed to leadership from tender age so that they grow up confidently and be able to stand up to any occasion in life and that as organization we take the lead to close the gap between pupils from well-resourced schools and those from poorly resourced schools.
Tinotenda Matare, an 11-year-old Grade 6 pupil at Windview remarked that the training helped him because he was short-tempered, but is going to change so as to be able to be a good mentor.
Angel Gandanzara, a 10-year-old Grade 5 pupil at Thorncroft said she was now knowledgeable to execute what she was expected to do back at school.
All the staff members felt that their tasks were going to be easy now that the prefects had been equipped with knowledge and Mrs Joyce Chimbwerera from Windview requested the organisation to have a refresher course in second term. Mrs Sheila Muzuva from Thorncroft Primary remarked that their prefects who were trained by Zoe Trust last year made them proud at high-profile events.