The old adage “education is the key to life” has seen its mark being realized at Chikurubi Maximum Prison, where prisoners strive to acquire both academic and professional educational qualification at various levels.

“A mixed ‘school’ at the prison caters for all classes of ‘students’.  Fellow prisoners have been ‘upgraded” to teachers and headmasters in this set up.

Students from the Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace from the University of Zimbabwe recounted their visit to the prison. CCJP-UZ members were very much perplexed that Chikurubi has a ‘school’ running with different sections, and each section has a headmaster who is responsible for his ‘school’.

These ‘headmasters’ voluntarily teach their cell mates and these students actually write ZIMSEC exams and study for professional courses.

The school however has a lot of challenges that impair its smooth running, like the fact that they do not have chalkboards or chalks.

They also do not have textbooks and this is hard especially for subjects like Mathematics and English. Thus, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (UZ) is on an accelerated campaign to provide the inmates’ basic educational needs.

CCJP-UZ has launched the ‘Donate a Book and Help Mend a Broken Life’ campaign and kindly appeal to well-wishers to help support this noble cause.