History
In 1962 CHISZ was formed with nine member headmasters: those of Arundel, Bishopslea, Chisipite, Eagle, Falcon, Peterhouse, St. Peter's, Springvale, Whitestone and Bernard Mizeki College.[2] 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).[2] Gateway was founded in 1983 and joined ATS in 2000. Becoming the most important.
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 schools, 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.[2]
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.[4][5]
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.[2]
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