The Ministry of Information, Communications and Telecommunications, Postal and Courier Services of Zimbabwe has pledged to donate at least 26 laptop computers to Ezekiel Guti Secondary School in Chinhanga Village, Manyame, Harare. The donation aims to support school children in the area with digital skills training.

The pledge was made by ICT’s Deputy Minister, Dingumuzi Phuti, during a session to train youths from the local catchment area at the school’s computer laboratory on digital literacy. The training also emphasized cyber security skills for local school children.

At least 400 youths in the local area have already benefited from the training sessions. The secondary school was established by the late Archbishop Ezekiel Guti under the ZAOGA Forward In Faith (FIF) church to empower marginalized school children with digital skills literacy.

Deputy Minister Phuti stated at the event that the school’s computer laboratory has 39 computer cubicles, some of which lacked the necessary gadgets. The laptops will fill up the empty cubicles for the benefit of the children.

The event was part of activities leading up to a celebration of the legacy of the late Archbishop Apostle Ezekiel Guti, founder of the ZAOGA FIF church. Phuti highlighted that his ministry has a partnership with the Ministry of Education to support ICT skills education for disadvantaged school children.

A Chief Director in the ICTs ministry expressed the ministry’s serious consideration of the work being done by ZAOGA church at the school in support of the community, leading to the establishment of a memorandum of cooperation.

Phuti emphasized the importance of partnerships between institutions like the church and government, stating that the collaboration between ZAOGA and his ministry at the school highlights this importance. The school is empowering youths and school children from communities like Dema, Waterfalls, and Southlands.

He added that the ICTs ministry had an e-learning strategy being rolled out, which emphasizes the importance of digital skills education, especially for the youths. Dr. Eleanor Guti, wife of the late Archbishop, said that the school was established some years back in a former swampy area to raise the standards of life for people in marginalized communities.

“This was the late Archbishop’s last project and gift to the Chinhanga community and the school comes with great value to the communities,” she said. She added that the school was growing and many children in the local community will stand to benefit from it.

Dr. Guti also urged the Ministry of ICTs to facilitate access to computer equipment with the necessary accessories to enable children with disabilities to be digitally literate. She said that the school was developing into a state-of-the-art facility to benefit the community in the local area.

Dr. Guti also said that the future lay in ICTs and urged the youths to embrace them.