Education Ministry aiming for 6-day distribution period of $30,000 cash grant

The Education Ministry is putting systems in place to deliver $5.8B in Because We Care cash grants and uniform allowances, a process which is being done in transparency and fairness.

This is according to Permanent Secretary Alfred King during the Education Spotlight programme on Wednesday. Underscoring that it is a massive programme to roll out, Permanent Secretary Alfred King highlighted that the Ministry’s system provides for accountability, transparency, fairness, and efficient distribution of the cash grant.
“We have a planning committee that is headed by the Minister. Our policy directive to the other players or members of the committee is that, as far as practicably possible, we must do everything that is within our grasp to ensure that this programme is fully transparent. The fairness and registration is one that can withstand thorough scrutiny at every level,” King expressed.

The Guyana Police Force is involved in strategising a detailed plan to ensure that the distribution and escort for the cash are secured. The Office of the Auditor General is also involved in this exercise.
The Because We Care cash grant has been increased to $25,000, while the School Uniform Programme has been raised to $5,000, making it $30,000 per child for the upcoming academic year.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand underscored that the aim is to provide the grants in a timely manner for parents to prepare for the 2022-2023 academic year. The distribution will roll out from August 2.
“This year, we hope to finish it off in all 10 regions in six days. That’s a bit of a challenge, but we believe we can meet that. The reason we’re doing it in that condensed time is because we want parents to have this in their hands to be able to prepare their children and make them ready for the September school opening that we have coming upon us,” Manickchand disclosed.
According to her, the Ministry is also activating plans to reduce the waiting time to collect the grant.

“You won’t see very many schools with more than 1,000 students receiving on the same day at the same place. Some, we had no choice simply because that’s the number in the school, but we’ve really tried to split up and divide where will receive. The reason for that is simply because we want to make the waiting time as short as possible, as much as we can.”
Any child who is present on the school register and in attendance is eligible to receive the grant. Parents can collect the grant or authorise someone to do so. Dates and locations to uplift the grant will be published by the Education Ministry.

Previously, the Education Ministry, in a memorandum, indicated that only parents and guardians who returned textbooks loaned to students for the school year by the Ministry would be eligible for the “Because We Care” cash grant.
The memorandum, addressed to Regional Education Officers from across all ten administrative regions, informed that all textbooks that were loaned to students must be returned on or before July 7 for students to receive the cash grant.
The memorandum had also indicated to parents and guardians that if the textbooks loaned to their child and/or children become lost or destroyed, they would be given the option of having the book(s) replaced. If the book cannot be replaced, a $5000 fee would be charged to the parent/guardian.
The “Because We Care” cash grant initiative was first introduced in 2014, and saw each public-school child benefiting from $10,000.
However, the initiative came to a halt by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Government, but was reinstated in 2020 after the current People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Government went back into office. In addition to resurrecting the programme, the PPP/C increased the value of the cash grant to $15,000. This was alongside the $4000 uniform grant, meaning every child received a total of $19,000. (G12)