COMMENT: Nip abuse of BEAM in the bud

The Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) is meant to assist vulnerable and disadvantaged children to pay tuition fees, levies and examination fees.

The children who should benefit are those coming from poor families, child-headed families and orphans. Government policy is that every child must enjoy the right to education hence it came up with BEAM to ensure those children unable to pay for their education still enjoy the right to education like every Zimbabwean child.

It is therefore disturbing to learn that there are some individuals abusing BEAM to benefit even those children whose parents can afford to pay for their education.

The Zanu-PF Masvingo proportional representative MP, Cde Emma Ncube said because of the abuse of BEAM by those responsible for identifying beneficiaries, scores of disadvantaged children had dropped out of school as they were left out of BEAM.

Cde Ncube said those selecting the beneficiaries prioritised their children and those of their relatives who were not supposed to benefit. She said about 50 percent of the beneficiaries were not supposed to be on the BEAM list because their parents can afford to pay for their education.

Cde Ncube said what had compounded the situation was that school authorities were sending pupils home for non-payment of fees although this was against Government policy.

She said as a result many disadvantaged children had dropped out of school because they were not under BEAM and their parents or guardians could not afford to pay for their education. “If you go to rural schools you will realise that 50 percent of the children under BEAM are relatives of teachers and those involved in the selection of beneficiaries,” said Cde Ncube.

She said to avoid favouritism and abuse of BEAM, those involved in the selection of beneficiaries should not be locals.

We want to implore the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and that of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to investigate the alleged abuse of BEAM to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor.

The children who are being forced to drop out of school due to failure to pay for their education are being denied their right to education.

The two ministries need to move in fast to address this alleged abuse and MPs like Cde Ncube could provide the required information to assist in the investigations. Government has put systems in place to ensure every child enjoys the right to education and we can therefore not allow individuals to deny some children this right.

Those abusing BEAM to benefit relatives and friends’ children should be exposed and punished. We want to once again implore the two ministries to take seriously reports of alleged abuse of BEAM so that if confirmed,ssssssss corrective action is taken immediately to minimise prejudice to the intended beneficiaries.