Dear Editor,

I HAVE been conducting an opinion survey in Guyana to solicit the public’s views on various contemporary issues. One of the issues is on the educational grant for students. Only students in government schools are eligible to receive the grant, but the public feels private school students should also receive the grant, as many parents are experiencing financial difficulties in affording to send their children to school during the pandemic; many parents have lost their jobs over the last few years.  The public is grateful for the grant; they thank President Ali, Minister Priya Manickchand, and the rest of the members of the government for restoring the grant that was cut off by the APNU-led coalition in 2015. There is overwhelming approval for the educational grant to public school students across all sections (ethnicities, communities, classes, political affiliation, and educators) of the society. The public disagrees with the position taken by the teachers’ union head on the role of educators in the distribution of the grant.
The survey is ongoing to solicit opinion to rate the government as it marks its first- year anniversary since the election of President Irfaan Ali.  Based on the findings of the survey, no one opposes the educational grant for students in public schools, although some respondents feel it is not enough. Respondents also say that students of wealthy families don’t need the money, and that it should be given based on a needs test.

Opinion is mixed on giving the grant to students of private schools. Respondents say that some students of private schools are economically well off, and do not need the educational grant. However, it is noted that many students in private schools come from less privileged financial background, and parents are struggling to fund their kids; they deserve and need the grant.  Parents of students in private schools as well as educators in those schools overwhelmingly support giving the grant to them.
In the US, government’s educational benefits and grants are extended to private schools. Parents of students in private schools, including religious schools, had challenged government policy in court to deny them benefits. Lower courts had ruled in favour of the government. The US Supreme Court ruled in favour of the parents. When I studied US constitutional law, decades ago, there were several court rulings in which the court explained that the private schools (including religious schools) were not the beneficiaries of the grants, and that there was no co-mingling of the State and religion when the government doled out benefits to students in private or religious schools.

The Supreme Court explained that the students and their families were the beneficiaries of grants; not the religious institutions. In the US, students of religious or private schools get free text books, meals, and transportation to and from schools. Meals and transport passes are based on a needs test. All students are eligible for free books. Government also sends teachers to private or religious schools to assist low-performing students. In recent years, students received free laptops or ipad computers.
It is the view that government should consider extending the educational grant to students of private schools; if not to all students, those deserving should receive the grant, based on some kind of needs test.  Since Vice-President Jagdeo made an announcement on a social media interview on Saturday, parents of students in private school that I have conversed with have been very supportive. Also, the public in general feel that the government should extend the educational grant to these students.
Parents of kids in private school can easily pull their kids from private schools and register them in public schools; government will have to pay the grant to them. This will burden government schools. It is cheaper to simply extend the grant to students of all schools.

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram