By Sharon Tawuya
Harare, (New Ziana) —Members of the National Assembly have expressed concern over the non-payment of the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), a fund cfeated to pay school fees for vulnerable learners since 2023, with some rural institutions going years without the support.
Contributing during the Question and Answer session, Jabulani Hadebe, the Member of the National Assembly for Nkayi South, said in the majority of rural schools, approximately 80 percent of learners are dependent on BEAM, yet schools have reportedly had prolonged periods without receiving the necessary BEAM support since 2022.
“This leaves the schools dependent on the small contribution from the minority of learners who are able to pay school fees,” he said.
He said some schools had recorded zero pass rates at Grade 7 and O-Level due to inadequate funding, shortages of learning materials and deteriorating learning conditions.
In response, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Edgar Moyo acknowledged that BEAM arrears had accumulated and said the Treasury had released just under ZiG90 million this year.
He said his Ministry was aware schools were struggling and was engaging the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to speed up releases.
“BEAM has not been paid for quite some time. However, we continue to pay as we receive money from the Treasury. I can confirm that this year we have received just under ZiG90 million,” he said.
Moyo said special schools were now almost 100 percent up to date, but regular schools were lagging behind because payments were dependent on Treasury releases.
“They have indicated to us that they are going to accelerate disbursement towards BEAM so that schools are not disadvantaged,” Moyo said. He noted that BEAM currently covers around 1.5 million learners countrywide.
He said he could not commit to a date for total clearance of the arrears, but reiterated Treasury’s commitment to reducing them through fortnightly engagements.
Moyo said concerns had also been raised about non-deserving beneficiaries accessing BEAM but to address that, the government has completed an audit of the program and is preparing a report to improve targeting.
“We are also developing a social registry, a platform where we are going to be uploading people so that the targeting is improved and is also digitalised,” he said.
Edwin Mushoriwa, MP for Dzivarasekwa Constituency moved that the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Professor Mthuli ncude to be summoned to Parliament to present a ministerial statement to clarify the position of the government on BEAM, saying “we cannot continue pretending that things are okay.”
On the issue of poor pass rates, Moyo said factors such as high teacher-pupil ratios also contributed, but noted that education performance fell under his Ministry.
BEAM was established to assist learners from vulnerable households who cannot afford school fees.
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