Manickchand trusts Region Ten parents

EDUCATION MINISTER, MS. PRIYA MANICKCHAND TRUSTS REGION 10
PARENTS to use the $200M ‘BECAUSE WE CARE’ cash grant to be distributed in that
17,040Km 2 hilly sand and clay community for improving their children’s welfare.
“We are saying you can use this in any way that is in service to your children, and once that
happens, you will have happier children in the classroom who are more receptive to the
education that we are trying to deliver in the schools,” Minister Manickchand explained during
this week distribution exercise.

The government has been criticized for abandoning the voucher system used by its predecessor
in preference for cash, but Manickchand was unmoved.
“That’s what you live for. Even though you may be doing well, we know you could do with a
hand. I have no doubt in mind that when we give this grant and when we give it in cash that it
would be used mostly for your children,” she told parents.
The ‘Because We Care’ grant is valued $19,000: ‘Because We Care’ grant of $15,000 and the
School Uniform and Supplies grant of $4000. Distribution was done at the Christianburg/Wismar
Secondary School in the bauxite-mining city of Linden, Upper Demerara/Berbice (Region Ten).
The minister clarified that the cash grant is not limited to traditional educational items, but can
also be used to purchase anything that benefits children.
“Anything that you do with this money that is good for your children or that is in service to your
children is a wise expenditure of the money.”
The Irfaan Ally administration has set aside some G$3.2B (approx.US$15M) for the national
scheme targeting some 172,000 public sector learners.
The government plans annual incremental increases to the two elements of the ‘Because
We Care’ novelty until it reaches $50,000. The School Uniform and Supplies Grant has
doubled from $2000 last year to $4000 this year.