Gov’t distributes $970M in school cash grants ahead of new term

In keeping with its commitment to supporting teachers and advancing the provision of high-quality education across the country, Government has distributed some $970 million in school cash grants.
The grant provides $4,500 per student in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice), and Georgetown; while grants in Regions One (Barima-Waini), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Esequibo) provide for $5,500 per student.
For the Christmas term, slated to commence on September 2, a total sum of $79,909,500 has been provided to 73 schools in Region One. $65,478,500 has been provided to 87 schools in Region Two. $118,167,500 has been provided to 126 schools in Region Three. $174,733,000 has been provided to 139 schools in Region Four. $59,690,500 has been provided to 75 schools in Region Five.

$109,194,500 has been provided to 129 schools in Region Six. $49,444,000 has been provided to 50 schools in Region Seven. $27,599,000 has been provided to 32 schools in Region Eight. $71,362,000 has been provided to 97 schools in Region Nine. $62,270,000 has been provided to 62 schools in Region Ten; and $152,305,000 has been provided to 97 schools in Georgetown.
In a brief interview with this publication on Saturday, Education Minister Priya Manickchand explained that these grants allow teachers to prepare and maintain their classrooms as they see fit by purchasing the janitorial, office and field supplies that they need; such as chalk, Play-Doh, markers, cardboards, crayons, and cleaning supplies.
“Schools have already received their grants. This is just a grant for the Christmas Term, which is from September to December. And as you can see, it is about close to a billion dollars…,” she declared.
“Where there are small schools, there’s a limited number. If a school has 10 children, it doesn’t mean they’ll get $45,000, because that $45,000 can’t match. So, there’s a cutoff, or lower limit…but smaller schools would have more than $4,500 per child,” Minister Manickchand explained.
Over the years, the regional administrations provided grants to the schools and the goods were bought in bulk, but teachers have said that items which they already had were being stockpiled, and actual needs were not being met, while they had to wait for long periods before the items were delivered.
Minister Manickchand has said that teachers and parents have, over the years, complained about having to provide the materials for classrooms from their pockets. However, because of this intervention, educators are no longer required to provide materials at their expense.
“So, the Government decided on central ministry to make schools autonomous by giving them school grants that would allow them to purchase what they wanted in the quantity and at the quality they wanted for every term. But that has limits, what you want has to be school-related. I can say for sure that schools have never received supplies this early before we started this programme, which was two terms ago,” she added.
The sum of $898.2 million was invested in the school grant in 2023, and it benefitted 182,672 students. This year, another $3.1 billion has been allocated to continue this programme.
The school supplies cash grant complements a range of initiatives supporting both teachers and students. These include the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant, the national school feeding programme, and textbook and exercise book distribution.