The Association of Trust Schools (ATS) is an organisation of independent primary and secondary schools in
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
that was founded in 1962. Each of these schools are run by their own Board of Governors and are
not for profit entities. The Heads of ATS schools are eligible for membership in the
CHISZ.
There are 66 schools in the ATS.
History
In 1962 CHISZ was formed with nine member headmasters: those of
Arundel,
Bishopslea,
Chisipite
Chisipite, colloquially known as Chisi is an affluent residential suburb in northeastern Harare, Zimbabwe. It is bordered by Enterprise Road to the north and Eastern road to the east, and Greendale to the south to Lewisam to the west. Begun in ...
,
Eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
,
Falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
,
Peterhouse
Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite o ...
,
St. Peter's,
Springvale,
Whitestone and
Bernard Mizeki College
Bernard Mizeki College is an independent boarding school for boys situated in Marondera, Zimbabwe approximately 87 km east of the capital Harare and or 13.5 km north east of Marondera town. It was founded in memory of Bernard Mizeki, a ...
.
Their purpose was mutual support and encouragement. By the mid-1970s, twenty-four schools attended the Conference. A dip then followed leading up to independence with only nine members attending in 1981. However, the
Independence War years had led to a number of member schools closing down, including two of its founder members (Eagle and St. Peter’s), while two other founder member schools closed but did re-open (Whitestone and Springvale).
When government schools opened up to multi-racial classes post-independence, those people who had turned to independent schools chose government schools rather than high fee-paying independent schools as what they were being offered was much the same. However, by 1983, the demand for independent schools had gained pace again – many more new schools were founded, nearly all
co-educational school
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
s, while nearly all the founding members of CHISZ had been single-sex schools. In 1983 six new independent schools were started; from 1983 to 1986 nineteen more were founded.
Member schools have received criticism from parents and Zimbabwe government Minister of Education
Lazarus Dokora for charging illegally excessive non-refundable acceptance fees and increasing tuition despite "atrocious" academic results.
In 2015, sixty-six schools are members of the ATS, with twenty-four at Secondary level and forty-two at Primary with over 23,000 students enrolled and over 800 teachers employed.
EXCO
EXCO is the Standing Committee of ATS, made up of members of the
Conference, elected annually by the members at the AGM.
List of EXCO Chairs
List of ATS member schools
Primary schools
Secondary schools
See also
*
Conference of Heads of Independent Schools in Zimbabwe
A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic.
Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...
References
External links
ATS CHISZOfficial website
{{Association of Trust Schools
Associations of schools
Private and independent school organizations
Private and independent school organisations in Zimbabwe
Education in Zimbabwe
*
Organizations established in 1962
1962 establishments in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland