HARARE - Over 700 000 children will benefit from the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) after the government and international donors gave US$30 million to kick start the programme. (Pictured: Thanks to BEAM, thousands of children from disadvantaged
The Director of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Labour and Social Services, Sydney Mhishi, said the programme had already started. “BEAM has started all over the country as forms have been dispatched to all schools to nominate the deserving candidates. Schools will then send them to us for funding,” said Mhishi. He said the money from both the government and international donors was available, with each pledging US$5 million per term. Mhishi said they had set aside a special fund for disabled children countrywide. “We have set aside 10 per cent of the funds for disabled school going children so that they get assistance,” he said.
“The 2010 selection process is currently underway in all schools around the city. The selection committees are identifying disadvantaged children who qualify for the scheme, but not everyone will get assistance,” he said. The Deputy Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Lazarus Dokora, explained that there was an intense selection process to identify the children who would benefit from the scheme. BEAM assisted more than 400 000 primary school children in the country since its resuscitation in September last year. Under the Social Services Welfare Assistance Act vulnerable children and those in child headed families are entitled to benefit from the Ministry’s public and other programme.