Zim Now Writer
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Evelyn Ndlovu says her ministry will implement the free primary education programme progressively as the funds allocated for the sector are not enough to do it all at once.
Ndlovu said the ministry was allocated US$3.6 million, which after analysis it was decided it was not enough to roll-out the programme at the same time.
“We sat down before the end of the year with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to analyse the budget to check on the amounts that were allocated to the Ministry in terms of funding the education sector in this country.
“So, this is the process that we are going through. We have the figures on the table and we are looking forward to you to approve a supplementary budget if it is possible for you Hon. members to make sure that our children access free education.
"We worked together with the Deputy Minister of Finance before the end of the year. We have the figures and we have got US$6.3 million and that is not enough. It is not enough but we have to start the implementation because the Constitution says so and the Education Act says so,” she said.
This comes after the government last year announced that it will commence a State-funded basic education programme in 2023, with learners from disadvantaged communities set to benefit first.
In 2020, President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed into law the Education Amendment Act, which compels the State to provide free basic education in line with provisions of section 27 of the Constitution.
Primary and Secondary Education Deputy Minister Edgar Moyo said the government had conducted a three-year nationwide study to establish the costs involved in the programme.
Schools had already been categorised for the purposes of the programme. Institutions were classified as P1 for primary schools and S1 for secondary schools.
Missionary schools were classified as P2 and S2 schools while learning institutions in rural areas and poor communities were classified as P3 and S3 schools respectively.
P3 and S3 schools were scheduled to be the first to receive the grants when schools started in the first term of 2023.
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