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Inyathi High School (formerly, Inyathi Secondary School and prior to that Inyathi Mission) holds the distinction of being the oldest formal educational institution of any kind in Zimbabwe. Inyathi High School stands out in the history of Zimbabwe as having been amongst the first places in modern day Zimbabwe to have seen the dawn of Western Civilization within the region. By the same token, it is amongst the first formal points within Zimbabwe to have guardedly resisted Western incursions into the region by the missionaries. Finally, it was also the site of mutual co-existence between the Kingdom of King Mzilikazi and the Western Missionaries. Inyathi High School is a boarding co-educational secondary school in Inyathi, Zimbabwe designed along the lines of the traditional British Boarding Public School System (without the attendant social implications). Together with sister institutions of Dombodema High School (Mission)in Plumtree and Tennyson Hlabangane High School (formerly known as Hope Fountain Mission) in Hope Fountain, Inyathi High School is privately owned by the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) which is itself an offshoot of the London Missionary Society (LMS). ==History== The settlement of the Matebele people (also referred to as the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe, who are not the same as the Ndebele people of South Africa) south-westerly in modern-day Zimbabwe is inextricably entwined with the history of Inyathi High School. Thus, Inyathi High School began as the Inyathi Mission School in 1896. The current district of Inyathi arose around the mission. When the LMS sought to establish a mission in Zimbabwe, King Mzilikazi granted them land near his capital, enabling him to monitor their activities, and forbade them from proselytizing the Matebele people. As such, Christianity did not spread amongst the Matebele until the fall of the Matebele nation in 1893. There were many reason for this. Firstly, the fact that these missionaries brought diseases that decimated the livestock of the Matebele was taken as a sign of an ill omen by the hosts. Secondly, failure of the missionaries to respect rituals and traditions of the Matebele meant that they were viewed with suspicion and their preaching unwelcome. Thus, the first Matebele convert to come into the Christian fold in 1892, Mathambo Ndlovu was killed by the local African folk who could not stand for his "conversion". Establishment of Inyathi Mission School in 1896, 40 years after the mission station was first established has to be a clear measure of slowness with which Christianity first spread amongst the Matebele. With the Matebele nation having fallen in 1893 it is little wonder then that 1896 offers a date stamp from which we can reasonably conclude with some certainty that the Matebele Nation had indeed fallen, making it possible for Christianity thus, to spread amongst the folk. The establishment of the school would suggest that by then, a critical mass of the "converted" local folk had now been attained. Their enrollment in the school also suggests that it must have now been safe for them to receive the teachings of the missionaries openly. Inyathi Mission evolved from a modest site consisting of a church of red bricks, built by Moffat, which still stands to this day. Today, Inyathi Mission Complex comprises a church, a primary-day school, a secondary-boarding school, a farm and a graveyard for its founding missionaries. The most current records show the school intake to consist of 197 boys, 296 girls and 28 teachers; 1 boarding master, 1 boarding mistress and a school bursar. They also suggest that the boarding-school farm was decoupled from the Inyathi Mission complex soon after political independence in 1980. Inyathi Mission became the first centre for academic excellence as we know it today, in 1896, taking students from what is now Zimbabwe and as far afield as Malawi and Zambia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Inyathi High School」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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