THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has expressed concern over government’s failure to clear Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) school fees arrears than have been outstanding for more than three years.
According to minutes from a council meeting held at council chambers last month, ward 25 councillor Aleck Ndlovu said some schools in Bulawayo had not received Beam funds.
He said the last Beam fees from government were received in 2023.
“The payments have been outstanding for a long time,” Ndlovu said, adding that he wanted to know if council had any strategy to collect the owed fees.
According to council minutes, mayor David Coltart underscored the need to take education seriously saying arrears have detrimental effects on the children’s education.
“A country without a functional educational system has no future and that country will end up ungovernable. School dropouts at times engaged in immoral activities which included drug and substance abuse as well as crime,” he said.
Coltart said council should consider introducing bursaries for vulnerable children.
The government recently committed to clear school fees arrears for pupils under Beam before the end of this school term as part of broader efforts to support the education for all initiative.
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There are more than one million pupils benefiting from the Beam programme countrywide.
