Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart says he has lost faith in the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) programme, because it is no longer saving its intended purpose.
Coltart told NewsDay that besides being underfunded, BEAM had become heavily politicised in its selection of beneficiaries.
“Despite BEAM receiving funds from generous donors and government, the funds are still insufficient to benefit the large number of impoverished children in Zimbabwe,” he said.
“I would admit that the question which we should ask ourselves is whether BEAM is still the most appropriate way to ensure that vulnerable children go to school.”
Coltart said beneficiaries were being selected on political party lines.
“The economies of scale for BEAM are not received, making the use of the funds unaccountable for, hence certain corruption and embezzlement of these funds may occur,” he said.
Turning to his ministry’s paltry allocation in the 2012 National Budget, Coltart said government priorities needed to be put right to ensure important sectors such as education received meaningful allocations.
“Out of the $66 million that was allocated for education, the ministry has only received $14,8 million,” he said.
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“The $66 million was inadequate and only receiving 25% of it is woefully inadequate. We need to change this if education is still valued in our country.”
