Over 190,000 children receive cash grant – Guyana Chronicle

— new distribution exercise to target parents who did not receive the grant

EDUCATION Minister Priya Manickchand has said that plans will be implemented to ensure those parents who were unable to receive the “Because We Care” cash grants last week will receive their monies in a second distribution exercise, which is to be announced at a subsequent date.
“We have had parents coming to say that they registered late and parents, particularly from private schools, coming to say that their names were not on the register for some reason or the other. So, we are going to have to look at what we have remaining and whether we can serve all of those persons in a second go around,” Manickchand said on Friday as the first distribution concluded.
The minister further explained that while the ministry was able to reach over 190,000 children, there were some parents who were unable to uplift the cash grants during the four-day exercise.
As such, the ministry will soon roll out a phased exercise to target parents who were unable to uplift the grants and those who did not appear on the register.
“There are going to be two second tranches, one, the first one being people who are legitimate on the list but could not get here, for whatever reason… the second one would be a look to see people who were not registered on time.”
She further explained that the $5 billion budget catered for parents who were registered; however, those who did not get to register for the first distribution will not be left out.
“I want people to remember that the budget was arrived based on register, so if you were not on the register, we wouldn’t have catered for you, but we still may be able to do something so we will have a look at that.”
Meanwhile, the minister praised the first distribution exercise.
“I’m very happy to say the Ministry of Education rolled out a really good programme, of course, with assistance from the Guyana Police Force [GPF] and the Auditor General’s Office and so we have not only had a programme that was smooth and efficient, but one that is really accountable and very, very transparent,” the minister said.
“We just served [over] 190,000 children in four days distributing probably more than $5B… that has never been done in this country before. I just want to pause a minute and understand the magnitude of that undertaking and think about how smooth that was,” she added.
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.
The 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, it discontinued the grant. When the PPP/C returned to government in 2020, they upheld their promise to restore the grant and increase it.