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$300m BEAM funds lying idle
By Phyllis Kachere, Sunday Mail (Zimbabwe)
July 25, 2004

http://www.sundaymail.co.zw/index.php?id=8115&pubdate=2004-07-25

Almost $300 million set aside by the Government under the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) to assist underprivileged pupils with school fees during the first and second terms is locked up in State coffers because of delays by some school heads in submitting claim forms.

It emerged last week that the funds were lying idle as a number of school heads have either not yet submitted claim forms or have sent in inadequate information to facilitate the release of the money by the Government.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Cde Paul Mangwana, said of the $1,166 billion that was budgeted for under the programme, about $882 million has been disbursed, leaving about $284 million unclaimed.

"We appreciate that the funds are too little to cover all those who need them but the little that we have still remains unclaimed. I am not sure why school heads take their time in submitting the claim forms and besides, some of the forms have to be returned because of errors.

"Some heads send in the forms without their bank details and fund disbursement really takes longer than is expected."

Cde Mangwana said following the delays by the schools to submit the forms, his ministry has been forced to look at other ways of ensuring that those who need the funds get them on time.

"Now we have asked our social welfare officers to go to the schools and liaise with the selection committees to ensure the speedy processing of the funds.

"We are also in the middle of rationalising all existing funds for social security. For example, we have the National Aids Council who have a programme that assists orphans to pay their school fees. We are also aware that some non-governmental organisations assist in paying school fees for vulnerable children. Soon all these will be harmonised and done by this ministry," he said.

There has been an outcry over the late disbursement of funds under BEAM, with some school heads allegedly having stopped enrolling pupils whose fees are paid under the programme.

Cde Mangwana showed this paper a list of schools that have not received the BEAM funds for the first and second terms.

He said there have also been appeals for the BEAM funds to also cover school uniforms, books and other educational needs of the children.

Some of the districts that have not received BEAM funds are Gwanda, which had a total of 39 schools, Lupane with 32 schools, Mutoko (40), Hwedza (38) and Harare with 32 schools.

The deputy headmaster of Belvedere Junior School in Harare, Mr Paul Madimutsa, said this year his school had applied for the funds for 21 children but were told to scale down the figure because they had a budget of only $341 000.

"It was very difficult for us to scale down on the number because all the children were deserving. Eventually, we scaled down to four and we forwarded our forms through our district education officer, Mr Mukombami, and we haven’t heard anything yet.

"We usually don’t make follow-ups on such applications. We only wait to hear from them," said Mr Madimutsa.

The headmaster of Nharira Primary School, also in Harare, confirmed that his school had not yet been paid the funds but had submitted their application.

A Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare official claimed that some private schools in Harare and Bulawayo had asked the ministry not to consider their applications, saying the BEAM funds where too little to cover school fees for even one pupil.

Lupane district education officer Mr Themba Mpofu said his office had sent the forms but nothing had been received so far.

"All I know is that we forwarded the forms to the project management unit here and I haven’t heard anything about them," said Mr Mpofu.

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