Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo| Hundreds of school pupils have been forced to drop out of school following the withdrawal of fees related aid by various donor agencies as a result of Primary and Secondary Education Minister, Lazarus Dokora’s controversial policies. Dokora has been widely criticised for introducing a raft of controversial measures in the ministry.
Well placed sources in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education told ZimEye.com yesterday hundreds of school pupils were forced to drop out of school following the withdrawal of the donor driven Basic Education Assistance Module(BEAM).
It is understood hundreds of pupils are dropping out of school because of the withdrawal of donor aid over Dokora’s policies.
Socially disadvantaged and vulnerable children are also failing to pay their school fees as a result of the withdrawal by donors.
“The situation is very sad because donors spearheading the BEAM programme are withdrawing their support as a result of the new policies being introduced by the minister,” said an official in the ministry.
Speaking at a poverty reduction meeting in Masvingo recently, the Director of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare, Nkiwane Muleya said the withdrawal of donor assistance was a huge setback.
“Donors are withdrawing their support we are in a difficult position. We have also been blamed for frustrating donor efforts but some issues are beyond our control,” said Muleya.
The minister recently introduced a cache of random policies which include the banning off humanitarian Christian organisations which have been assisting school pupils for decades.