THE second phase of distribution of the $30,000 ‘Because We Care’ cash grant has completed and Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, on Wednesday, disclosed that close to some 9,000 beneficiaries have not uplifted their grants.

“We had just under, 11,000 parents who our records said would have been entitled that we wanted to serve on the second occasion, unfortunately, the numbers that turned out were very, very low,” she said.

A four-day distribution exercise was held earlier in the month and saw more than 20,000 recipients uplifting their grants; however, some parents were unable to receive the grants during the first exercise.

The ministry hosted a second distribution exercise on August 18 for parents who were unable to uplift their grant during the first cycle.
The second phase of the distribution targeted those parents who were unable to visit the respective distribution site during the initial phase, and therefore, could not uplift the grant, and those parents whose children’s name did not appear on the list, even though they are properly registered at their respective school.

According to Minister Manickchand, there was less than 20 per cent turnout during the second phase.

“For me, if it was one person who picked up in any region it was enough, we needed to turn up, because for that person it meant a lot. So, in most of the regions we saw under 20 per cent of those who would have been entitled receiving the grant,” Manickchand said.

“The government’s job is to provide the funding for this grant and to make accessible as many times as we can but we can’t force people to take it, so I think you would probably say about 9,000 parents whose children would have been entitled but did not receive.”

The “Because We Care” cash grant and uniform voucher are part of welfare measures being implemented by the government to put more disposable income into the hands of parents and increase school attendance of learners, particularly those disadvantaged because their parents could not always afford the basic necessities.

The PPP in its 2020 manifesto had promised to reintroduce the cash grant once elected to office. The grant was stopped by the APNU+AFC Government. Apart from reintroducing the grant, the government has increased it from $10,000 to $30,000 and has extended it to private schools. The government has also promised to further increase the grant to $50,000 by 2025.