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Govt Admits Failure To Pay BEAM Fees, Arrears Exceed US$57 Million

8 months agoFri, 24 May 2024 11:45:10 GMT
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Govt Admits Failure To Pay BEAM Fees, Arrears Exceed US$57 Million

The government is struggling to pay fees for more than one million disadvantaged school children registered under its Basic Education Assistance Model (BEAM).

This was revealed by the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Mthuli Ncube, during a question and answer session in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Responding to a question from Emakhandeni-Luveve MP Discent Bajila (CCC), Ncube said the government owed schools US$57 million in BEAM arrears by the end of the 2023 financial year.

He said during the 2023 financial year, 1,515, 047 children registered for financial support under BEAM. Said Ncube:

The government availed ZWL$77.5 billion against a budget of ZWL$23 billion thereby reducing school fees arrears as well as clearing ZIMSEC examination arrears for 2023.

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Notwithstanding the above efforts, resource constraints exacerbated by changes in the macro-economic environment resulted in the accumulation of arrears for BEAM which stood at an equivalent of US$57 million (ZiG772 million) by the end of the 2023 financial year.

The 2024 budget set aside ZWL805, 087,608 now ZiG322,163,908 million to cater for BEAM. However, due to limited fiscal space, the budget is not able to fully cover the arrears thereby limiting to cover both arrears and current fees obligations.

To this effect, the treasury will ensure the release of the full budget in line with current fees payments to curb further accumulation of arrears.

Treasury will also strive to find additional budget during the course of the year to prioritise payment of arrears to the marginalised schools so that service delivery is not compromised.

The government has barred school heads and School Development Committees (SDCs) from sending away learners if parents and guardians fail to pay tuition.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Edgar Moyo said schools should engage debt collectors to deal with parents who are defaulting on settling school fees for their children. He said:

Legally, school authorities are allowed to engage debt collectors to recover unpaid school fees instead of turning away learners.

As a matter of fact, we have consistently advised our school authorities to engage with parents or guardians in order to pay school fees and levies without even sending pupils away from school.

In the event that parents or guardians are not able to pay all the required fees and levies, the ministry has been on record, for advising school authorities to enter into a flexible payment plan.

However, we want to urge parents or guardians to respect the payment plans which they enter into with school authorities.

In 2020, President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed into law the Education Amendment Act which compels the State to provide free basic education as stipulated by Section 27 of the Constitution.

In the run-up to the 2018 and 2023 general elections, the Government promised free basic education but has failed to honour the promises.

More: Pindula News

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18 Comments

Mark Twain · 8 months ago
The figures are telling,, over 1000000 disadvantaged children,,iyo zim ine vava vangani vari xul age
44yrs · 8 months ago
Seriousness inongodiwa this is very little amount to clear come on my country!
Tkt · 8 months ago
Ko Mtuli anga achi ona Transfer into his Account yemaZiG here kufinyama kudaro,🤔
Tino · 8 months ago
vatikuwadza ava
Jahtsvarie07 · 8 months ago
Kana hurumende ichikonewa kubhadhara fees yevana koo isu vabereki tinosungirweyi, mari irikunetsa tese...
kembo kashiri chinamasa · 8 months ago
Matsotsi Mambavha madzvanyiriri manyepo Makuhwa Hapana chawanoita ne hutsinye huri mawari Kutaura nhema
Ndini · 8 months ago
Ed ibenzi must goo.Muthuli Ncube kushaya nemoyo wese.Hutsinye huzere ipapa unopa vashandi Mari yeartm yaunodya 1hr uri ****.
...,. · 8 months ago
it is the poor who attend schools where beam is available. what is the minister of education and government doing to the education of those poor children if those who may have the capacity to pay sometimes fail to pay, and government and the ministry forces the school with no resources to not send those children away in addition to those on beam the government will have failed to pay for? is government serious with the education of the poor?
fareme · 8 months ago
zanu shud simply admit failure to rule the country.... simple.
Zozo · 8 months ago
They will exit soon or later
@fake pindula · 8 months ago
Stop it !!!
Pindula · 8 months ago
Good afternoon Zimbabweans. There are some names forwarded to me of members here who are CIOs. I have spoken to the members n some confirmed that they are CIOs. I have advised them to exit on their own so as to respect them. Should they fail to do so on their on we will do it on their behalf. I still have some to verify n should anyone knows he /she is not a CIO please exit
Roja remu Kuwadzana · 8 months ago
Kuno landlord vangavakutondinetsa kuti hanzi beam haisati yatipa mari yerent yako saka zvazvadai ndinotenda
Tendai Matevera · 8 months ago
Ana mthuli mukutoshandisa ma iphone zvenyu janditi
zig · 8 months ago
ko kungosiyana nazvo nhaimi kana zvirikunetsa
Bondaz · 8 months ago
Umm

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