Marist Brothers Secondary School, Dete (MBSS), referred to as 'Marist Dete' is a co-educational (mixed) boarding secondary school

Dete Dete (previously known as Dett) is a small Rail transport, railway re-crewing train station, depot and a Juvenile towns, developing town on the Bulawayo-Hwange-Victoria Falls railway line in Zimbabwe, approximately north-west of Bulawayo and s ...

, in the

Hwange Hwange, originally known as Wankie, is a town in Zimbabwe, located in Hwange District, in Matabeleland North Province, in northwestern Zimbabwe, close to the international borders with Botswana and Zambia. It lies approximately , by road, sou ...

district of

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

’s

Matabeleland North Province Matabeleland North is a province in western Zimbabwe. With a population of 827,645 as of the 2022 census, it is the country's second-least populous province, after Matabeleland South, and the least densely Zimbabwean populated province. Matabele ...

. The school was established in 1972 and is part of the international family of Marist schools run by the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

, a Catholic society founded in 1817 by Saint

Marcellin Champagnat Marcellin Joseph Benedict Champagnat, FMS (20 May 17896 June 1840) was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic priest who founded of the Marist Brothers, a religious congregation of Religious brother, brothers devoted to Mary, mother of Jesu ...

in France. The Marist Brothers Secondary School in Dete provides classes from Form 1 to Form 4. The school introduced Advanced Level classes in 2015. Most of the students come from the

district (

Victoria Falls Victoria Falls (Lozi language, Lozi: ''Mosi-oa-Tunya'', "Thundering Smoke/Smoke that Rises"; Tonga language (Zambia and Zimbabwe), Tonga: ''Shungu Namutitima'', "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River, located on the border betwe ...

, etc.) and

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

. Due to its high profile and excellent reputation, MBSS also attracts students from further afield, including the Midlands, Matabeleland and Masvingo provinces of Zimbabwe.

School history

Marist Brothers Secondary School Dete was opened in 1972, as a transfer from St. Mary’s Secondary School in Lukosi,

. St Mary’s Secondary School had been an old Catholic School run by the priests of the Hwange Diocese. Marist Dete library

Marist in Dete has classes from Form 1 to Form 4. Academic subjects studied include English Language, English Literature, Ndebele, Mathematics, Geography, Science, Biology, and Bible Knowledge. The school also offers practical subjects including Metalwork, Bicycle Mechanics, Motor Mechanics, Woodwork (Carpentry), Needlework, and Cookery (Food and Nutrition). Typically, every student will produce and take home several pieces of furniture or clothing that they will have produced during the year, for their personal or family use. Marist motor mechanics students and their teachers have, over the years, created usable motor vehicles using scrap. The most notable of these were ''Moonshine'', a large truck that was used to ferry goods from Dete to and around the school, and ''Sunshine'', a small 'body' on 'wheels' runaround vehicle used around the school and farm area. Typically, these vehicles were deliberately never developed to the point of being roadworthy, and were made to lack things such as wind screens, batteries. In 2014 MBSS came in 17th in the country with 87.3% of its students passing. Students from the school have been among those having the highest scores in the ZIMEC A-level exam. In 2016, the school's quiz team won first place in a contest held in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, with 23 schools from South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe participating.

School life

The school is divided into four colour-coded 'Houses', Champagnat (Yellow), Lwanga (Red), Mafuyana (Green), and Mzilikazi (Blue). Champagnat House is in honour of

, the founder of the Marist movement. Mafuyana House is in honour of the late mama Mafuyana, wife of the late Vice President of

and Nationalist Freedon Fighter

Joshua Nkomo Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) ...

. The house was formally called Chaminuka. There are eight blocks of residences, four each for girls and boys. Except for a few exceptions over the years, a student typically stays within his or her house throughout the four years at Marist. There are four dining halls, also divided according to the four houses. Here, boys and girls from the same house have meals together. Participation in sports, including inter-house competitions, are also conducted according to one's house. Classes are mixed and include awards with points that a house collects throughout the year. The house with the highest points (from sports, dormitory inspections, and class awards), becomes champions that year. Prizes have included a house picnic at one of the lakes near the school.

Sports

Various sports are available. The main ones are

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

(soccer),

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, basketball, and track events. Due to its better sporting facilities, particularly its large and many grounds, Marist Brothers Dete has traditionally been the host school for regional sporting competitions

Marist Old Students Association

Marist Old Students Association (MOSA) is a non-political and

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

of the former students of Marist Brother Secondary Dete, Zimbabwe (MBSS). The

organisation An organization or organisation ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution ( formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a pa ...

was formed to unite and forge ahead in promoting and fostering the growth and development of their former school and integrating those who share in the MOSA vision. This

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

is a

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

of former and current MBSS students and teachers and those who share the same vision in the growth and development of the school world over. Membership is open to any person who may be connected to the school in one way or another. A mere interest and love of the school is adequate qualification for one to take part in the discussions. The aims of the organisation are to seek ways of improving the standards of education and general conduct of the school and to provide career guidance to those still studying at the school. Vision: The vision of MOSA is to help their alma mater in its growth and development so that it may continue to produce a proud, useful and distinguished service persons—persons who will not only be of good and useful service to the school but

humanity Humanity most commonly refers to: * Human, also humankind * Humanity (virtue) Humanity may also refer to: Literature * ''Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century'', a 1999 book by Jonathan Glover * ''Humanity'', a 1990 science fiction n ...

as a whole, that is,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and the

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

Notable alumni

Robert Christopher Ndlovu Robert Christopher Ndlovu was installed as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Harare on 21 August 2004. Education and career Ndlovu was born on 25 December 1955 at Tshongokwe, Matabeleland, Rhodesia. He was educated at the Marist Brothers Dete i ...

, Archbishop of Harare and head of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

; also past president of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC), and Chancellor of the Zimbabwe Catholic University *

Chenjerai Hove Chenjerai Hove (9 February 1956 – 12 July 2015), was a Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both English and Shona. "Modernist in their formal construction, but making extensive use of oral conventions, Hove's novels offer an i ...

, author *

Philip Valerio Sibanda Philip Valerio Sibanda (born 24 December 1954) is a decorated Zimbabwe general who has served as commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces since December 2017. He was promoted from lieutenant general to full general at that time. As lieutenant gen ...

, Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army

References

External links

Marist Old Students Association (MOSA) website

Graduates.com Forum, a place to meet and discuss with other students and staff
{{Zimbabwe private schools High schools in Zimbabwe Catholic schools in Zimbabwe Catholic secondary schools in Zimbabwe Marist Brothers schools Marist Brothers schools in Zimbabwe Private schools in Zimbabwe Educational institutions established in 1972 1972 establishments in Africa Education in Matabeleland North Province