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Herald Reporter
NEARLY 400 000 primary and secondary schoolchildren could be forced out of school as Government and donors have failed to pay their fees under the Basic Education Assistance Module for the past two terms. Government caters for nearly 65 000 secondary school pupils under the assistance module, while donors provide fees for 300 000 more in primary schools and many others with disabilities who are in several institutions.

But the Government has no money to fund the fees, while donors are reluctant to release the funds.
Donors had provided US$10 million that was enough to cover the first two terms for primary pupils and Government was expected to pay for those in secondary schools.

Government needs about US$25 million to pay school fees for both primary and secondary education.
Acting principal director in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Mr Sydney Mhishi said in an interview yesterday that the US$10 million provided by donors this year had been exhausted, leaving Government in the red to the tune of US$25 million.

“For the first and second terms we do not have arrears for primary schools because we managed to source from development partners,” he said.
“As things stand, we need US$5 million for third term to cover primary schools and it is our hope that Government will provide us with the money.”

Mr Mhishi said Government was still saddled with a debt owed to secondary schools to the tune of US$5 million in arrears for last year. An estimated US$15 million is needed to fund secondary education, US$5million arrears from last year and another US$5 million for third term primary education.

“We are still trying to clear arrears for last year for secondary schools,” said Mr Mhishi.
“We have not secured money for this year and we still hope that Government will give us the money.”

According to figures from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, about 35 000 boys and 30 000 girls in secondary school had applied for assistance under Beam for 2014.

At least 140 000 boys and 142 000 girls from various primary schools across the country also applied for assistance under the programme.
Beam has been funded to the tune of US$73 million through Government, Unicef — which has since pulled out — and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.

Unicef and DfID provided the bulk of funds in previous years, while Government had allocated US$15 million in this year’s national budget.
Unicef withdrew from the programme two years ago and DfID provided the US$10 million that paid for the first two terms to primary schools.
Beam is meant to offer social protection and pay school fees for almost one million orphans and vulnerable children every year.