GOVERNMENT has ordered schools to desist from turning away learners on Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) over non-payment of fees as it is a criminal offence.
Primary and Secondary Education minister Torerai Moyo on Wednesday told legislators that the Constitution does not allow pupils to be turned away from school, adding that schools are double dipping if they demand fees from guardians and later claim the money from Beam.
“It is true that the most students, despite being on Beam, were being sent away from school. We have now put in place a law that ensures that anyone who sends a child away from school because of fees whether on Beam or not will have committed a crime.
“They will have breached the children’s right to education. Our Constitution does not allow pupils to be sent away from school. Those schools are double dipping because they make the parents pay and they will also take money from Beam when it eventually comes,” Moyo said.
Beam is a government programme introduced in 2001 to pay tuition and examination fees and levies for underprivileged learners.
Government is targeting to assist 1,5 million children under the facility.
Moyo added that defiant school heads risk being charged for breaching the children’s rights to education.
“We are using a Statutory Instrument of 2000 which gives penalties for sending children away from school, the school head can be charged for breaching the children’s right to education, should anyone hear of any school still sending children away from school, please quickly let us know.
“Beam caters for parents who cannot afford it and those families that are struggling to pay school fees for their children,” he said.
In 2022, the government increased the Beam allocation to ZWL$5,6 billion to cater for an increasing demand for assistance after many people lost their livelihoods due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moyo pleaded with the treasury to timeously disburse funds to fund Beam.
“We encourage that the Beam money should be disbursed timeously. We are going to meet with the Ministers of Finance and Social Welfare so that the Beam funds do not take long and schools do not struggle to develop. In areas where parents are able to pay fees, people should pay fees, but in areas where they cannot afford, the government should allow those children to learn for free.