The Government has expended a total of $27 billion on “Because We Care” cash grant since assuming office in August 2020, with an additional $8.6 billion in disposable income to be made available to families nationwide this year.
This revolution was made by Education Minister Priya Manickchand on Tuesday during a press conference at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Kingston, Georgetown.
According to Minister Manickchand, approximately 214,000 school children in public and private schools have benefit from the annual cash grant which includes the school uniform and supplies voucher.
The Education Ministry is set to roll out its “Because We Care” cash grant this term which will see each child receiving $45,000.
This year, the “Because We Care” cash grant has been increased to $40,000, coupled with the $5000 uniform allowance and will benefit 205,000 children countrywide.
Additionally, schools have already received their grants to purchase supplies and materials to make teachers more efficient.
“I know parents look forward to it but I don’t think people understand the cumulative effect of this grant. It’s really giving back to our parents and the children of this country $27 billion in the four-year period that we’ve been there. You will recall when the cash grant was abolished by the previous government that they said they were abolishing the cash grant so that they could give breakfast, boats, buses, some bicycles”.
“We are giving the cash grants plus breakfast, plus we have bought more buses and boats in three years than the APNU had done in five years. And so, I just want you to understand the injection into making sure parents and children could access education so that they could avail themselves of the many opportunities we see coming our way,” the education minister said.
The PPP Government, in its manifesto, had promised that by 2025, each child will receive $50,000.
The “Because We Care” project started in 2014 under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government and saw parents receiving cash grants of $10,000 per child in the public school system.
However, when the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) assumed office in 2015, the party discontinued the grant. When the PPP/C returned to Government in 2020, they upheld their promise to restore the grant and increase it.
As a result, the grant was increased from $15,000 to $25,000 in 2022 and from $25,000 to $35,000 in 2023 to $45,000 per child in 2024.
The “Because We Care” cash grant and uniform voucher are part of welfare measures being implemented by the government to put more disposable income into the hands of parents and increase school attendance of learners, particularly those disadvantaged because their parents could not always afford the basic necessities.
Meanwhile, the sum of $9.9 billion would have been injected into the National School Feeding Breakfast Programme by the end of 2024.
This programme the minister noted ensures that students in grades five and six across the country, as well as secondary schools in the hinterland receive either breakfast or a hot meal daily. (G1)
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