By Bellah Zulu, ACNS

The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe has been challenged to play a major role in higher education by getting involved in tertiary education such as the running of colleges, universities and other high institutions of learning.

Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Masvingo Godfrey Tawonezvi made the challenge at a recent workshop for Zimbabwe Anglican church education stuff held at the Cathedral of St Michael and All Angels in the Zimbabwean city of Masvingo.

“We need an Anglican university and Anglican technical training Institutes,” said Bishop Tawonezvi. “The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe needs to look beyond secondary education and get involved with learning that occurs at universities, colleges and institutes of technology.”

In his opening remarks at the event, the bishop thanked the education secretaries for organising the workshop. He also expressed gratitude and appreciation to the two officials from Ministry of Education for having accepted the invitation to facilitate the workshop.

The workshop brought together education secretaries of the five dioceses in Zimbabwe, school heads and bursars of all Anglican mission schools in the country. The main facilitators were the Provincial Education Director for the province of Mashonaland East and an auditor from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

The Provincial Education Director, Mr J Guri encouraged mission schools in Zimbabwe to aim for sustainable economic growth, self-sufficiency, good governance and infrastructure development.

The auditor from the education ministry, Mr Sabilika encouraged all the headmasters and bursars to shun corruption and be accountable. He emphasised that all school accounts should be “audited every year by a reputable firm of auditors.”

Bishop Tawonezvi explained the important role that the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe plays. “The church is a major stake holder in the education of children,” he said. “The Anglican Church does not only do evangelism but also undertakes relief and development programmes.”

The main purpose of the workshop was to develop key education staff including Anglican education secretaries, school heads and bursars to ensure improved operations at Anglican mission schools in the country.