The Government is not yet ready to fully implement the free basic education policy due to budgetary constraints.
This was said by Primary and Secondary Education Minister Evelyn Ndlovu while responding to questions from backbenchers in the National Assembly on Wednesday last week. Ndlovu said:
We sat down before the end of the year with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to analyse the budget to check on the amounts that were allocated to the Ministry in terms of funding the education sector in this country.
After a deep analysis of the figures, it is quite clear that we can start the implementation of the programme.
However, it should be implemented in a staggered manner because we do not have enough resources to immediately implement that policy.
… We worked together with the Deputy Minister of Finance before the end of the year. We have the figures and we have got US$6.3 million and that US$6.3 million is not enough.
It is not enough but we have to start the implementation because the Constitution says so and the Education Act says so.
The Government promised to progressively provide free primary education starting this year but the programme is yet to take off, more than a month after schools opened for the 2023 first term on 09 January.