It's illegal for underprivileged pupils to beg

Government says it is illegal for pupils to beg, emphasising that no school head is allowed to send underprivileged children to look for fees on the streets.

School children clad in their uniforms with a begging bowl on one hand and an official letter to beg for school fees on the other, are a common sight in the streets of Harare.

The children approach anyone and will recite a convincing story of how their guardians are failing to pay their fees to an extent that their school heads are sending them away to beg.

So touching are their stories that a number of people have given them money.

What is confusing is that the children will be carrying a letter with a school stamp as well as the headmaster's signature.

Government on the other hand says no school head is allowed to send a child on the streets to solicit for money.

"We have received reports of school children who are begging with letters in their hands. To put the record straight, government does not allow such things to happen," said Cde Lazarus Dokora, who is the Deputy Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture.

Government has programmes such as the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) which caters for underprivileged children but questions have been asked as to whether the BEAM programme is benefitting the needy.

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