HARARE - Zimbabwe students have roundly condemned the Zanu PF-led government for neglecting nearly a million Zimbabwean orphans and disadvantaged children who depend on State assistance to pay school fees.
Ngoni Masoka, the permanent secretary in the Public Service ministry, told a parliamentary portfolio committee on Public Service Labour and Social Welfare last week, that only $15 million was budgeted for Beam this fiscal year, a figure he said was grossly insufficient and will result in almost a million of Zimbabwean orphans and disadvantaged children unable to enrol at schools.
Gilbert Mutubuki, Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) president, led the attack on the government saying the State has failed students.
“Zinasu has learnt with great disappointment that with less than a year, the government has already forgotten what it promised its people during elections to the extent that it dramatically turned its back to its people,” Mutubuki told a news conference yesterday.
“Zinasu openly condemns the failure by government to fund the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) resulting in hundreds of thousands of students under this programme likely to drop out if the government fails to provide an urgent solution to the problem.”
Mutubuki urged the government to implement measures to avoid students dropping out of school.
“The government must discover new opportunities and new resources of funding the education sector as a matter of urgency and avoid students particularly those from poor financial backgrounds, to drop out of school,” Mutubuki said.
Turning to student loans and grants, Mutubuki demanded that Olivia Muchena, minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, fulfil her promises.
“In the same vein we demand the minister to honour her promise, given that last year she promised the re-introduction of grants and loans,” he said.
“With full knowledge that education is our right, we therefore demand loans and grants to replace the cadetship scheme which failed beyond doubt.”