Victoria Falls school misses BEAM funds for 12 years over missing paperwork

A primary school in Victoria Falls has not received Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) funds since 2013 because it failed to submit the required forms.

Deputy Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Mercy Dinha told Parliament that Baobab Primary School in Chamabondo had not sent its allocation forms to the BEAM Management Unit. As a result, no payments were made.

The issue was raised in the National Assembly by Hwange West MP Vusumuzi Moyo. He asked when the school would finally receive its BEAM allocation after more than a decade without funding.

“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.”

She said the ministry has now contacted the school directly and given guidance on how to fix the problem.

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

Once the required forms are submitted, Dinha said, the government will process payments and clear outstanding arrears. The school’s allocation will then be handled alongside payments to other schools.

Baobab Primary serves the Chamabondo area of Victoria Falls. Many families there rely on social assistance programmes such as BEAM to keep children in school during economic hardship.

Dinha also told Parliament the government is developing a BEAM Management Information System for all schools.

She said the system will streamline allocations and cut the burden of submitting physical forms to BEAM Management Units. *_-Pindula_*