Latest update February 22nd, 2025 2:00 PM
Latest News
- $277.9M Mabaruma Magistrates’ Court commissioned at Mabaruma
- Min. Indar scolds contractors over unsanctioned works days after VP Jagdeo called out ministry’s shoddy management of construction sites
- White House expects Ukraine to sign critical minerals deal soon
- Simplify cash grant distribution processes
- Peacemaker chopped after intervening in argument
Some 10,000 benefiting from government’s Public Assistance programme
Approximately 10,000 persons are currently benefitting from the government’s public assistance programme, Ministry of Social Protection, Director of Services, Wentworth Tanner told the Department of Public Information (DPI), recently.
Tanner explained that the Ministry of Social Protection’s programme caters for three categories of persons eligible for public assistance; the permanently disabled, medically unfit or those who experience economic hardships.
The unit is working with persons by providing assistance to ensure that their children attend school under this programme. Once persons qualify for the government’s fund, the unit works to ensure that their children attend school regularly. This, Tanner explained, is because “education is a basis or one of the fundamental reasons why persons are able to climb out of poverty.”
Director of Social Services, Ministry of Social Protection Wentworth Tanner
The criteria for qualification are ‘means tested’ the Director explained, meaning a social worker makes a home visit. “We check your source of income and we also require you to get a letter from the school stating that the child has been attending school, or not attending school.” A social investigation is conducted and a report is prepared.
The report then goes before a local board of guardians which is basically a board made up of persons from within the community, they adjudicate on it and the assistance is provided, once the criteria is satisfied.
Effective January 1, 2017, the Ministry of Social Protection’s Public Assistance was increased from $6500 to $7500
The Ministry of Social Protection’s social services budget was increased by 50 percent for 2017. This has made it possible to effectively provide aid for more persons, Tanner pointed out. (DPI)
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The clock and the cloud
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Time, as the ancients knew, is a trickster. It slips through the fingers of kings and commoners... more
CARICOM Nations Should Respond Together To new U.S. Policies
By Sir Ronald Sanders Ambassador to the US and the OAS, Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News-Two Executive Orders issued by U.S.... more
Weekend Cartoon
