Because We Care initiative: Second phase of cash grant distribution begins today

The Education Ministry will be conducting the second phase of distribution of the Because We Care cash grant.
This phase will focus on two categories of beneficiaries: those parents who were unable to visit the respective distribution sites during the initial phase and therefore could not uplift the grant, and those parents whose children’s names did not appear on the list even though they are properly registered at their respective schools.
The second phase of distribution will take place across Guyana at identified distribution centres today.
The Education Ministry, in a statement, said, “We encourage those parents who fall within one of the two categories above to make every effort to uplift the grant, or to authorise a trusted individual to do so on their behalf.”
Parents or guardians must present a valid form of identification, such as their National Identification Card, passport or driver’s licence. Parents or guardians who do not possess a form of identification must be identified by a community leader, a teacher, or the headteacher of the school to be the parent or guardian of the child. If someone is being authorised to uplift the grant, they need to present a valid form of identification and the letter of authorisation.
This exercise is necessary to allow those parents who genuinely could not have made it on the initial date to uplift the grant, and to ensure that the children whose names were missing on their schools’ lists are not disenfranchised.
In 2021, Government disbursed a total of $3.3 billion in “Because We Care” cash grants to public school students countrywide. The cash grants were also extended to students attending private schools, where each child received $19,000, amounting to a total of $284.8 million. This amount was increased to $30,000 this year.