“Because We Care” cash grant: More than 5000 assisted through MoE helpline

The Education Ministry has said that more than 5000 persons were assisted through its “Because We Care” cash grant helpline which was put in place to ensure the smooth flow of the distribution.
According to the Ministry, the helpline addressed concerns and provided the necessary information surrounding the said cash grant which was rolled out last week at the various schools across Guyana.
The MoE said the cash grant helpline which was set up before the official commencement of the cash grant distribution, has received and processed more than 3500 calls and 4000 WhatsApp messages.
“Before the commencement of the distribution exercise on August 2, the helpline was set up to respond to questions and concerns parents and guardians had about the grant. An advertisement was circulated to more than 800 schools and on social media,” the Ministry said in its statement.
It explained that the dedicated operators were available from 08:00 am to 07:00 pm, Sunday to Sunday, answering questions and providing guidance on all issues related to the distribution of the “Because We Care” cash grant.
“The helpline was instrumental in the smooth administration of the distribution exercise,” the MoE noted.

According to the statement, parents from across the country have since commended the Ministry on the efficiency of the process and noted that it was quick, easy and hassle-free.
The Government initially aimed to distribute a total of 193,679 “Because We Care” cash grants and school uniform allowances this year.
This was estimated to be at a cost of over $5.8 billion.
Each child in the public and private school system would receive $30,000 – $25,000 as the grant and $5000 as an allowance for school uniform.
Education Minister Priya Education during the wrap up of the cash grant last week, noted that the Education Ministry is committed to ensuring that all parents receive the “Because We Care” cash grants and uniform allowances.
She had stated that the MoE would seek to address the issue of late registration and those parents who did not receive, owing to other reasons.
“We’ve had parents coming to say that they registered late and parents coming to say, particularly from private schools, that their names were not on the register for one reason or the other, so we’re going to have to look at what we have remaining and whether we can serve all of those persons still in a second go-around,” the Education had Minister explained.
“So, there is to be two second tranches to be done, the first one being people who are legitimately on the list, but could not get here for whatever reason… they’re at work, they’re in the hospital, whatever, and we’ll announce those dates shortly and then the second one, we’ll look to see whether the people who were not registered on time didn’t do what we asked them to do, if we have enough in our budget to serve them,” the Education Minister related at the time.