Marist Brothers Secondary School: A Brief History – The beginning
Marist Brothers Secondary School Dete was opened in 1972, as a transfer from St. Mary’s Secondary School in Lukosi, Hwange. St Mary’s Secondary School had been an old Catholic School run by the Catholic priests (Fathers) of the Hwange Diocese.
In 1967 (about), the Bishop Of Hwange invited the Marist Brothers to take over and run St. Mary’s Secondary School in Lukosi.
From about 1968/9 there were Marist Brothers at St. Mary’s, but the school was still run by the Fathers (Catholic Priests).
The school transferred to the current Chezhou area in Dett (now called Dete) in 1972.
At opening in 1972, there were two classes, Forms Three and Form Four. Form One and Form Two classes remained at St. Mary’s and only joined the current Marist site in 1973.
Brother Evaristo Utete was the first headmaster, and the teachers then included Mr. Jacob Mudenda (now a lawyer), and Alfred Mlambo.
The first Marist graduates sat for their ‘Cambridge School Certificate’ exams (Form Four) in 1972. The pass rates at the time were very high (almost 100%) due to the stringent screening that was in existence from Primary and at Form 2 level.
Some names from the 1970s classes: The early days!
- Felix Fandroy Moyo
- Herbert Nkala
- Augustine Khoza
- Chenjerai Hove
- Godfrey Chipare
- Marko Rumhuma
- Philip Valerio Sibanda
- Robert Christopher Ndlovu
A very big thank you to these early day Maristians who cleared the path for the rest of us.
Please help us improve or add to this article. We are particularly interested in more names from the 1970s