The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT has increased threefold the number of beneficiaries under the education social safety net — the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) — and will be providing uniforms to beneficiaries, a Cabinet Minister has said.
The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) 2021 Rural Livelihoods Assessment Report recently revealed that at least 23 percent of children of school-going age were not attending school.
According to the report, major reasons for this included financial constraints, pregnancies and early marriages.
In an interview on the sidelines of the handover of maize-meal donated to Cyclone Idai survivors last on Wednesday, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Professor Paul Mavima confirmed that Government had approved the provision of school uniforms for BEAM beneficiaries.
Minister Mavima said the Government had approved the increase in the number of beneficiaries under the education social safety net.
“We have already expanded the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM). This year we are covering 1.5 million recipients. It is almost a threefold increase on the number of learners covered under BEAM. Secondly, we are covering not just the tuition fees, but also school uniforms, examination fees and all the other requirements for a pupil.
“We realised that covering only the school fess does not give children confidence when they go to school without proper uniforms, without shoes and so on.
“We have covered the wider scope of the requirements that the pupils need. We will continue working on this. We have enacted an Act that says basic education should be State funded and we need to move towards fulfilling that mandate.
“We are slowly getting there and as resources are made available, we will cover all basic education. Those who decide to send their children to Group A, boarding or private schools can carry the burden, but otherwise basic education, according to the statutes, must be State funded,” said Minister Mavima.
When asked when the provision of uniforms and other needs would be made, Minister Mavima said: “These will not be availed separately. When the BEAM funds come to the school, there should be enough to cover everything that the pupil needs.
“The money will not be paid directly to parents. Our heads, who are undergoing training right now should be able to handle this money and properly direct the package where it should go in order for the pupils to get the uniforms as well as stationery they need.”
The recent ZimVAC report, which indicated that at least 23 percent of Zimbabwe’s children who are within the school going age are not attending school is based on data collected between May 3 and 20 this year.
The report further reveals that Matabeleland South Province has the highest number of children who are not attending school in the country with 27 percent, followed by Matabeleland North Province with 26 percent.
Mashonaland West is at 24 percent, Mashonaland Central (23 percent), while Midlands is at 22 percent.
Masvingo and Manicaland had the lowest numbers at 18 percent respectively.
ZimVAC was established in 2002 and is a consortium of Government, development partners, the United Nations, technical agencies and the academia.
