School vouchers distribution taken to Region 10

Nov 25, 2020 News

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand handing over a voucher to a parent and student while at the Mackenzie High School, in the company of regional officials

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand yesterday visited the One Mile Primary, One Mile Nursery and the Mackenzie High Schools in Region 10 to distribute the school uniform and supplies voucher to parents in the region.
During her visits, Minister Manickchand said that the Ministry of Education and the Government of Guyana are very cognizant that parents are worried about their children’s education particularly due to COVID-19.
She told parents that the Region has received $45M worth of school uniform and supplies vouchers which translates into approximately 11,250 students benefiting from this financial assistance to purchase items they need for their academic progression.
She told parents that the voucher will help them to buy school items for their children and ease the expenses parents have relating to their child’s education. She added that in 2021, the Government of Guyana will restart the ‘Because We Care Cash Grant’ programme.
She said that the programme was started in 2014 with $10, 000 per child and was intended to grow until it reaches $50, 000.
However, that programme was stopped. “It was abandoned and nothing replaced it, but we’re starting it back next year and each child will get $15, 000,” Minister Manickchand remarked.
Addressing the issue of the re-opening of schools, Minister Manickchand said that studies have shown that the longer students are out of school the more likely they will suffer from learning loss or dropout from school altogether.
She said that based on data, a considerable percentage of students in the region have not been engaged online since schools were closed. Minister Manickchand explained that teachers have used various modalities to ensure their students are engaged including Zoom, Google Classrooms, WhatsApp and even Facebook.
She said that these methods had challenges since not every household has access to internet and while some may have, their connection is not strong enough. Adding to these difficulties, each student does not have the necessary devices to participate in online learning.
Further, the Education Minister explained that the Ministry is trying to reach as many children as possible through television on the Guyana Learning Channel which has been dedicated completely to timetabled learning that teaches what students should learn if they were in school at this time under normal circumstances.
She said that efforts are being made to expand the Guyana Learning Channel to broadcast on six frequencies so that longer hours can be dedicated to each grade of students. It presently broadcasts on one channel. Minister Manickchand added that the Ministry is also using the radio to reach its students.
Minister Manickchand also noted that worksheets were written, printed and distributed for each child across Guyana’s public school system.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips visited the Kwakwani Waterfront Nursery School and the Kwakwani Primary School in the Region where he also distributed the school uniform and supplies vouchers in the community.
During his visit, the Prime Minister said that not only has the Government restarted the distribution of the uniform vouchers, but it has doubled its value by 100%, taking it from $2000 to $4000.
He added that from January 1, 2021, parents across Guyana will receive a grant of $15,000 for each child in school. He said, “We are happy now that we’re in office again so that we can continue this initiative, but more than that, we have decided to increase the money available by 100% and that is from an emergency budget”.
Meanwhile, Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Anand Persaud visited the community of Ituni on Saturday where he also distributed vouchers to parents. (Ministry of Education)

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