SOME 200,000 schoolchildren are to benefit from the Government’s Uniform Voucher Assistance Programme, this year, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) Dr. Roger Luncheon disclosed yesterday.
Speaking at his weekly media briefing, in Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, he said distribution of the vouchers, to be used for purchasing school clothes or other related items, is targeted to start at the beginning of the new school year in September and will benefit children from nursery through secondary level.
The project, which includes the provision of a uniform to every school-aged child, is being funded at a cost of $500M.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, during his New Year’s message, had announced his plan to have all students clothed through the government initiative.
The project has already been catered for in the budget and is an expansion of an existing uniform distribution programme which was introduced in 2003 to boost school attendance especially in rural, riverain and hinterland communities.
The annual allocation to facilitate this programme has increased significantly with $55M being spent in 2008 and 2009 to benefit over 36,000 children.
In 2007, government spent $40M to provide uniform assistance to 26,000 students while in 2006, $77M was earmarked to provide uniforms for 30,000 students.
In 2005, 14,000 students were catered for with a budgetary allocation of $40M while 13,000 students received uniforms at a cost of $40M in 2004.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security said that the value of each voucher, which was $1,500 last year, is still undetermined for 2010.
Geographic factors will be taken into consideration for the disbursement, the Ministry stated.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Priya Manickchand had previously explained the importance of children staying in school, in order to break the cycle of poverty and reiterated the Government’s commitment to assist the vulnerable population, especially children.
She pointed out that, apart from interventions like the vouchers, the Government has passed several pieces of legislation, aimed at protecting and caring for the target groups.