Govt struggles to clear BEAM arrears

A senior Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education official has revealed that the
Government is in BEAM arears for both primary and secondary pupils stretching over
five terms and schools are now threatening to send those children home for outstanding
fees.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, for professional reasons, the official said these
arears have been denting developmental projects at many schools with pupils under
BEAM.

The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, July Moyo, however
confirmed saying the Government has a ZWL$200 billion outstanding bill for the Basic
Education Assistance Module (BEAM) programme.

BEAM, a social welfare programme whereby the Government pays tuition fees for the
disadvantaged and orphaned children, however, it has over the years been seriously
affected by underfunding.

In a presentation at the pre-budget seminar held at the new Parliament building in Mt
Hampden last week, Moyo said: “Mismatch between budget disbursement and cash
release, for example, under the BEAM programme, from the revised budget of
ZWL$86,9 billion, cash availed to date is only ZWL$58,4 billion, leaving a balance of
$28,6 billion. Even the revised balance is not adequate to meet the requirements for
2023, as we are currently paying arrears for 2022. The arrears currently stand at
ZWL$278 billion.”