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.
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:Â Pindula News
