AT least 200 000 children are getting assistance under the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) with most cases being facilitated by community care workers in Masvingo province, provincial social development officer Stanislaus Sanyangowe has said.
Beam is a Zimbabwean government programme that helps vulnerable children between the ages of six and 19 to pay school fees, examination fees and other educational costs.
The programme was introduced by government in 2001 as part of the Enhanced Social Protection Project.
Speaking during a media tour organised by Unicef, Sanyangowe said there were 221 050 children under the Beam programme across the province.
“The community care workers are assisting in identifying children without birth registrations. We also have partners, like Unicef and the Swedish government. In a nutshell, we are working well with our partners and the community care workers,” he said.
Sanyangowe applauded the work being done by community care workers, adding that government was working closely with them in Chiredzi.
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“We are working closely with our community carers, that is the community care workers in all the districts and all the wards. They are assisting us in identifying child protection issues and welfare issues and children who are facing challenges to pay school fees and we place them under the Beam programme,” he said.
Parents in Chiredzi also applauded the facility and the great work community care workers are doing to assist vulnerable children in the area.
Saliwe Mhlanga, a widow with two children, said her children were excelling academically after struggling to attend school in their early years in primary education due to financial challenges.
“My husband passed away and he left me with two children. One is 12 years and is doing Grade 7 this year and the other is seven years doing Grade 2. They struggled to go to school when they were due to be in school because I could not afford their school fees,” she said.
“When the community care workers came to our area, they realised my situation and facilitated for my children to be enrolled under Beam.
“They have been going to school consistently and they are both thriving academically. I am very grateful for what the community care workers did for me.”
Gogo Muponda, who is 83 years old and is a grandmother to a 13-year-old orphaned child, said her life had improved since she stopped going to the market to work for her grandchild's school fees.
“I used to go to the market everyday to sell old clothes and vegetables for my grandchild's school fees.
“Now that she is on the beam programme, I have since stopped going to the market as my health no longer allow me to continue.
“The Department of Social Welfare is also assisting me with food and clothes for both my grandchild and I. My life has been made easier ever since I started getting this assistance. I am grateful.”
Community care workers were trained under the Child Protection Programme by the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare ministry with support from Unicef and the Swedish government.
The training was mainly focused on strengthening child protection response mechanisms, identifying child protection risks and abuses and vulnerable children in need of assistance.