Victoria Falls school missed BEAM funds for 12 years

A primary school in Victoria Falls has gone more than a decade without receiving Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) funds after failing to submit the required paperwork, Parliament has heard.

Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Mercy Dinha told the National Assembly that Baobab Primary School in Chamabondo had not been sending its BEAM allocation forms to the BEAM Management Unit since 2013, resulting in no payments being processed.

The issue was raised by Hwange West MP Vusumuzi Moyo, who asked when the school would finally receive its allocation after years without support.

"The issue at Baobab Primary School in your constituency has been noted and investigated," Dinha said. "We have discovered that the school was not submitting their BEAM allocation forms to the BEAM Management Unit, hence no payment was made."

Dinha said the ministry has since contacted the school and provided guidance on how to correct the problem.

"My ministry has now reached out directly to them and provided guidance to ensure they rectify this anomaly," she said.

She added that once the necessary forms are submitted, government will process the school's payments and settle outstanding arrears. Future allocations will then be handled together with payments to other schools under the programme.

Baobab Primary School serves the Chamabondo area in Victoria Falls, where many families depend on social assistance programmes such as BEAM to keep children in school amid ongoing economic challenges.

Dinha also told Parliament that government is developing a BEAM Management Information System aimed at improving the administration of the programme.

According to the deputy minister, the new digital system will streamline allocations and reduce reliance on physical submission of forms to BEAM Management Units.