Kutama College (officially St Francis Xavier College) is a private

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

independent boarding high school near

Norton, Zimbabwe Norton is a commuter town in the province of Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe near Harare. It is located about 40 km west of Harare on the main road and railway line connecting Harare and Bulawayo. Demographics According to the 1982 Population Ce ...

in the Zvimba area, 80 kilometres southwest of

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

. Grown out of a Mission station founded in 1914 and run by the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

, Kutama has a student population of about 700 pupils. Kutama College is one of the largest top schools in Zimbabwe. Kutama College was ranked 26th out of the top 100 best high schools in Africa by Africa Almanac in 2017, based on quality of education, student engagement, strength and activities of alumni, school profile, internet and news visibility. Kutama offers a rich educational curriculum and offers both ZIMSEC, HEXCO & Cambridge examinations. The school is popular for its academic prowess in Africa. In addition to splendid academics, the school has state of the art sporting facilities to cater for sports like athletics, basketball, cricket, volleyball, handball, hockey, beach volleyball, golf, tennis , table tennis, badminton, rugby, darts and several others. The school moto "''Esse Quam Videri''" is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

meaning "to be, rather than to seem".

History

Founded prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by English Jesuit Priests at the request of Bishop

Aston Chichester Aston Ignatius Sebastian Joseph Chichester, SJ (22 May 1879 – 24 October 1962) was the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Salisbury (now Harare, Zimbabwe). Background Born in Ostend, Belgium of recusant English descent, he was educated at ...

, Kutama was one of the first institutions to offer high school education to students of African descent in colonial Rhodesia. Its Jesuit origins are reflected in its official name,

St Francis Xavier Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December 1 ...

College. The school is part of Kutama Mission, a

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

originally run by

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

but now run by the

, a Catholic order devoted to educational work. The school's first headmaster was Father Jerome O'Hea, an Irish-born priest after whom the local mission hospital is named. Its most famous headmaster was James Anthony (affectionately known as "Jachi") Chinamasa, a Kutama College Old Boy(KOBA) and elder brother of Zimbabwean Justice Minister

Patrick Chinamasa Patrick Antony Chinamasa (born 25 January 1947) is a Zimbabwean politician who served in the government of Zimbabwe as the minister of various cabinet ministries. Previously he served as the Minister of Finance and Investment Promotion and the ...

. The current headmaster is Mr Francis Mukoyi who took over from Br Jacob Mutingwende.

Houses

Like most high schools in Zimbabwe, which follow the traditional British school system, students at Kutama are divided into four houses each having its own colour: * Champagnat (Blue), named after the

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Marcellin Champagnat Marcellin Joseph Benedict Champagnat (20 May 17896 June 1840), also known as Saint Marcellin Champagnat, was born in Le Rosey, village of Marlhes, near St. Etienne (Loire), France. He was the founder of the Marist Brothers, a religious congregat ...

, the founder of the Marist movement. *

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

(Red) * Michael (Green) * Patrick (Yellow)

Notable alumni

* – Zimbabwe's second finance minister (1982–1995) * * – former Minister without portfolio * *

References

External links

*
Top 100 African Schools
{{Zimbabwe private schools High schools in Zimbabwe Private schools in Zimbabwe Boarding schools in Zimbabwe Boys' schools in Zimbabwe Boys' high schools in Zimbabwe Marist Brothers schools Marist Brothers schools in Zimbabwe Catholic schools in Zimbabwe Catholic secondary schools in Zimbabwe

History

Houses

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links