Unique scheme helps poor children back into school

The Standard

11 August 2010

by Jennifer Dube

MASVINGO — Nyelet Makaya and Rumbidzai Marume may be young but they are fully aware that they have been rescued from a possible life of misery.

The little girls from Rujeko primary school recently recounted how a local non-governmental organisation rekindled their hope for a better future by enrolling them in its “textbooks for tuition fees” scheme.

Nyelet (8) and Rumbidzai (11) are among thousands of primary school pupils benefiting from a partnership between Dananai Children (Dachi) Care and 689 schools in the province.

Under the scheme, Dachi provides schools with textbooks and in return the disadvantaged children are allowed to attend classes for a period determined using the value of the books.

School authorities assist with the tallying of the value of the books against the fee structure to determine how many children can be covered by each consignment.

“My fees are being paid for with textbooks from Dachi,” says Rumbidzai who is in Grade VI.
“In the past, I would go for many terms without paying fees because my mother did not have the money.
“The school authorities used to send me back home  and I would still come back for classes without paying.

“At times, my mother would come and beg them to allow me to learn while she looked for the money.
“In most cases, they would ask her to pay but when this did not happen I would feel much better as I would attend classes without anyone bothering me asking for the fees.”

Rumbidzai had a similar story to tell as Nyelet and 64 other beneficiaries from Rujeko.
The school’s teacher-in-charge, Grace Mambanje, said most of the beneficiaries could not afford to pay fees even during the Zimbabwe dollar era.
Each pupil now pays US$20 fees per term following the dollarisation of the economy last year.

Mambanje said the project known as the Block Grants programme was benefiting both the school and the pupils.
She said while two pupils shared a textbook in the past, each of the 1 000 children at the school now had a textbook for all subjects.
Mambanje added that the performance of most beneficiaries had improved significantly since the introduction of the scheme.

“Most of these pupils previously lost a lot of valuable learning time being sent home to ask for school fees they would not get and in some cases, others were forced to assist their parents in trying to raise the fees after school. All these   things contributed to their poor performance in classes,” she said.
Paul Matsime, a monitoring and evaluation officer with Dachi’s implementing partner, Family Aids Caring Trust (Fact) Masvingo, said the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) provided the books for the scheme.

He said some schools had been supplied with books worth seven years of primary school tuition fees for some beneficiaries.
Matsime also revealed that in cases where some pupils graduated from primary schools or simply dropped out of the programme for one reason or another, others would be taken on board to fill the gap.

Unicef chief communications officer, Micaela De Soussa, said her organisation worked with various NGOs across the country to implement the scheme, with some schools also receiving book cupboards, chalk, flip charts and other education materials.

De Soussa said the Education Transition Fund (ETF) which is expected to be launched soon, will complement the scheme.
“The Block Grants programme together with the first phase of the ETF prioritise primary schools,” she said.

“We already have 50% material for the first phase of the ETF and we are waiting to get the remainder so we can embark on a massive distribution to all primary schools across the country.

“At this stage, a lot of children may worry about what will happen after primary school-level but those worries will be partly answered under the second phase of the ETF which will cover all secondary schools.”

The programme is part of a US$70 million fund approved in 2007 under Unicef’s programme of support for orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs).
The multi-donor fund was established in response to the national action plan for OVCs aimed at reducing children’s vulnerability through supporting them in areas of education, health care, social services and household supplies.

The programme is one of the most ambitious efforts aimed at reviving the country’s tottering education sector. Teachers say it is and a step in the right direction towards the attainment of the universal access to primary school education as spelt out in the UN’s millennium development goals.
The programme also  complements the revived Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) which is benefiting 60 pupils at Rujeko.

Ministers David Coltart and Paurina Mpariwa for education and social services respectively, could not be immediately reached for comment.
But Mambanje has a piece of advice to government – improve teachers’ working conditions to complement the donors’ efforts.
She said government and its partners could also offer more support to the beneficiaries some of whom cannot afford decent clothing and come to school on empty stomachs.

More support is needed to assist deserving children who could not make it to either the Block Grants or the Beam schemes, she said.