THE Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Torerai Moyo, has said failure to provide education support for children and delays in payment of fees by some parents are contributing to the high number of school dropouts as he urged parents to play their part in driving infrastructure development in schools.
Speaking in Kwekwe where he recently officiated at a clean-up and public consultation meeting, Minister Moyo said some parents were taking advantage of the Government’s directive not to send away learners for non-payment of fees to neglect their obligation.
“Most parents are no longer paying fees for their children because of the Government directive. No one should take advantage but you should play your role as a parent and ensure that your child has everything needed for learning,” he said.
Minister Moyo said some parents were to blame for the dropping out of school of many learners as they were not providing them the critical education support.
“Those who can, please pay your fees but those who cannot, the Government has provided safety nets like the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam).
“What we want at the end of the day is for the child to have a proper learning setup without any disturbances hence we should all play our part,” said the minister.
He noted with concern that there was massive corruption in the selection of Beam beneficiaries saying only those who deserve should benefit.
Minister Moyo said there were more than 10 000 children, who could be going to school in Zimbabwe but are not.
“We have, therefore, rolled out a programme to bring those children back to school because we don’t want any child to stay at home,” he said.
“Reasons for those not going to school include stigma, disability, poverty, and even neglect by parents. We don’t want a situation whereby children will end up caught up in drugs or indulging in social ills including early sexual debut. “The Government has, therefore, gone all out to ensure that every child goes to school.”
Minister Moyo said a subcommittee led by Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Deputy Minister, Cde David Kuda Mnangagwa has already facilitated the release of outstanding Beam funds to schools.
“We discovered that the Government owed school funds dating back to 2022. But I am delighted to tell you that the funds have already been disbursed to the relevant ministry for onward transmission to schools. This is to enable schools to operate efficiently,” he said.
Minister Moyo said schools should also come up with fundraising projects to avoid overburdening parents. He said the Government had pegged tuition fees in US-dollars to protect values but these could be paid in local dollar equivalent at the prevailing official exchange rate.
“With the hyper-inflationary environment we had to come up with ways of protecting value hence we pegged the tuition fees in USD across the country,” he said.
Minister Moyo also said the days of overstaying in School Development Committees were over.
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