Zimbabwe Republic Police High School, also called ZRP High School, is situated in Borrowdale

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

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 ...

. This

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

was established in 2001 in the Hatcliffe neighborhood of Harare but officially opened its doors to the first batch of students on February 3, 2003. It is privately run by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, making it a private school. The school was set up by the then-Commissioner of Police, Augustine Chihuri, as a means to curb the inconveniences to children of police when their parents are transferred to a different province. Despite it being built to mainly cater for police children, it is also open to non-police force members' children. However, school fees are pegged differently for both groups, with the latter paying close to double of the former considering their parents contributed towards the construction of the school through deductions from salaries. This is the first and only Zimbabwe Republic Police High School. On February 3, 2003, the school opened its doors to the first batch of students, with just under 100 students being enrolled and all being in Form 1. This was mainly because construction was still on-going and the resources were not yet adequate to cater for a full batch of students. These students had six teachers (all who were civilians) with each taking two subjects each. Basic infrastructure had been set up and a lot of improvisation took place to make sure that the students were properly cared for and received the best education possible. The

headmaster A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role While s ...

was Mr. Rinashe, who was coming from St. Augustine's. The deputy was Mr. Muzhanye, who was also the

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

teacher, and the Senior Lady was Mrs. Kundeya who was also the English and Shona teacher. The rest of the teaching staff included: Mr Munzverengwi for

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

and

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, Mr. Majilana (late) for

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

maths Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, theories and theorems that are developed and proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many areas of mathematics, which include num ...

, and Mr. Muzuwa for technical graphics and principles of accounts. Later on Mrs. Maguta joined the team and took over in geography and shona. Towards the end of that year, a batch for of students were chosen to be

prefects Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

who would later become school prefects for the next four years till they completed their

O Level O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), ...

studies. The year 2004 saw the enrollment of a new batch of students, thus offering form 1 and form 2 education. With this increase, staff also needed to be increased, therefore more teachers were recruited to accommodate the growing number of classes. This was a process that continued until 2008, which is when it became a full house, with students starting Form 1 up to Form 6. After the death of Headmaster Mr. Rinashe in October 2005, Mr. Muzhanye became Acting Headmaster until 2006 when Mr. Tarehwa, a former Head at St Ignatius took over. The year 2006 saw the first batch of students take their Ordinary Level examinations with slightly over 100 candidates registering to write. The school registered a 98% pass rate, thus making it the best performing school in Harare, and one of the top in the country. Four candidates recorded a result of 'nine'. Owing to inadequate equipment, the school had to improvise a lot, which saw the first batch of A Level students struggle, particularly in science. They had to make do with the little that was available for experiments. However, this did not stop the candidates from performing well and saw then record a 92% pass rate during the 2008 A Level examinations, making ZRP High School one of the top performing schools in the country, a title which they still proudly hold to date. Apart from academics, the school offers co-curricular activities which include

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

and

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

. One of the most successful has been the

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

club which was initiated in 2006 and saw the school win the Harare Nugget Debate Championships. To date the school has been a force to reckon with in the debating spheres, and has further produced students who have managed to be part of the junior parliament of Zimbabwe.

References

{{Reflist High schools in Zimbabwe Schools in Harare Boarding schools in Zimbabwe Educational institutions established in 2003 2003 establishments in Zimbabwe