record 900 000 children benefited as the Government reached its target of assisting between 25 and 30 percent of the total enrolment at both primary and secondary schools.
The Government reportedly sustained the education facility with fewer resources during the harsh economic environment within the last decade that was hit by illegal economic sanctions.
Speaking at an awareness raising workshop for the media and stakeholders held in Harare on Thursday last week, the director of Social Services in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Sydney Mhishi, said the Government aimed to support between 25 and 30 percent of the total enrolment at both primary and secondary schools.
He said at the present moment the total enrolment for both levels stood at about three million, meaning the Government aimed to assist between 700 000 and a million children.
Mr Mhishi said last year, 524 305 benefited from Beam, and the number is expected to reach about 550 000 in the first quarter.
“In December 2011, 524 305 pupils both at primary and secondary schools benefited from Beam. We expect this number to grow to about 550 000 as there is more response,” said Mr Mhishi.
He said 2007 was the country’s successful year in terms of Beam as the number of beneficiaries was within the target of the Government.
“The year 2007 was the highest, with about 900 000 beneficiaries, while the other years were below target. Beam was a complete breakdown in 2008 as there was no money totally for the programme and the situation was the same the following year with only nearly 400 000 getting assistance in the third term,” said Mr Mhishi.
Beam is a Government social protection service in terms of the Social Welfare Assistance Act of 1988, which seeks to improve living standards of OVCs through provision of social services, in this case, basic education assistance.
Those eligible for the programme are identified through a means-tested method that also covers their guardians, and findings are that most of them are reportedly elderly.
Mr Mhishi said although the Government wanted to assist every needy child in the country to access basic education, the situation was difficult because schools increase their fees long after each year’s budgetary allocations.
This, he said, was also contributing to the low number of beneficiaries.
Mr Mhishi said Beam was not only critical to the OVCs but also to their elderly guardians.
“Our biggest problem is that school fees always change and that happens post-budgetary, which puts more pressure on the Government and becomes really a problem. This year’s allocation in the national budget was $15 million and we expect donors to come on board as well,” he said.
“Most of the problems faced by OVCs are access to basic needs and this affects between 40 and 60 percent of them because they are cared for by their grandparents with an average of three OVCs per one elderly person.
“Senior citizens are not just a spent force but carers of OVCs and by virtue of their age and the way they relate to other structures around them they automatically become vulnerable.”
A representative of the Zimbabwe statistics office (ZimStat), Mr Lovemore Ziswa, who was one of the participants, said there a was need to carry out a specific census and survey for the elderly to gather data that could be used to improve their standards of living.
Speaking at the same workshop, the regional director of Africa Platform for Social Protection Dr Tavengwa Nhongo commended the Government for Beam and said it remained one of the best social service programmes in the world despite the challenges faced by the country.
“Beam is the best in Southern Africa, it has been going on since independence and the Government continued to provide that little money it could afford during the hard times and is regarded as the best in the whole world,” he said.

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