PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has disclosed that the Uniform Assistance Programme will be extended to facilitate every child in Guyana, this year.

The President was at the time speaking to residents of Mahaica/Mahaicony in a discussion of issues such as irrigation, governmental assistance and ongoing infrastructural drainage and irrigation works.

The programme was launched in 2001 by the President, subsequent to an outreach through which it was realised that some children were not attending school simply because their parents could not have afforded it.

It was given its first budgetary allocation of $31M in 2002, which saw over 10,000 children benefitting. Since then, the sum has been rapidly increasing in an effort to facilitate thousands of vulnerable children. In 2009 it received an allocation of $55M, which benefitted over 36,000 children.

This year’s allocation will go beyond vulnerable children to ensure that each child attending school in Guyana receives at least one uniform, as opposed to previous years, which targeted 10 percent of schools along the coast. However, all of the children from schools in riverine and hinterland areas were catered for.

In 2009 and preceding years, the assistance was given in the form of vouchers, worth $1,500 each that were redeemable for either school uniform or other school-related items.

This voucher programme is a 2006 manifesto promise made by the PPP/C administration.