THE Ministry of Education (MoE) continues to distribute school supplies to nursery, primary and secondary school children throughout Guyana, preparing them for the new school term which begins September 02.

On Wednesday, one-hundred students from Essequibo Islands-West Demerara, Region Three, received backpacks, lunch kits and other stationery supplies in the Regional Education Department’s boardroom. They are now equipped for school compliments of the Region’s Education Department.

The recipients were given the gifts due to their remarkable punctuality, school attendance and academic performance records.

Just last week, President David Granger, told the children of the communities of Hogstye-Lancaster Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in the East Berbice-Corentyne, Region Six that education is an investment in the future.

Regional Education Officer, Annesta Douglas remarked that there is a need for such activities to continue, because “each child matters.” Douglas noted that it is the Education Department’s responsibility to ensure that every boy or girl has access to quality education so that they can reach their full potential.

“This venture is to support you, the parents, materially and to give you counselling and encouragement that you should not give up. Guyana needs every young child to reach their full potential and so as we prepare to receive the oil and gas industry, we need to ensure that our children benefit from a piece of that pie,” the Region Three Education Officer told the parents gathered.

Providing an overview of the initiative, Senior School Welfare Officer, Azharuddin Zahaur noted that the Schools Welfare Department has previously organised other programmes to improve students’ attendance and punctuality. Among these, he listed visits to several homes, award ceremonies and parent-teacher workshops.

From those efforts, it was observed that one of the main reasons for poor attendance in school was financial constraints. This, Zahaur said, led to the Education Department initiating the ‘back-to-school drive.’

The donors included Republic Bank Limited, Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company Limited and the Fat Boy Store.

On August 27, another 100 students, from the Demerara-Mahaica Region benefited from a similar drive. The remaining regions are expected to undergo their distribution exercise later in the week. (DPI)