Dear Editor,
As reported in the media, it appears that the sharing of the Government of Guyana “Because We Care $10,000 Cash grant” is restricted to “parents of children on the registers of public schools.” This begs the question as to why the parents of children who attend ‘private’ schools are not entitled to the said grant.
When he announced the cash grant initiative during the 2014 national budget presentation, the Minister of Finance explained that the programme was meant to increase the disposable income of parents with school age children; as far as can be recalled it was not intended to discriminate against parents with children who attend ‘private schools.’ In any event one must wonder why there is any differentiation.
Don’t the parents of children who attend ‘private’ schools need to increase their disposable income? There might be a perception that these parents are richer but I have no doubt that we are all familiar with very rich parents whose children attend public schools and conversely, relatively poor parents who ‘tighten their belts’ to send their children to private schools because it is believed that the latter produce better students – at least based on the examination results.
One can go on and on to describe the fallacies of unfounded perceptions and the attendant unjustified discrimination, but for now it is sufficient to call attention to what appears to be an unfortunately unnecessary discrimination against parents who strive hard for the best possible education for their children and who are as responsible taxpayers as anyone else.
Yours faithfully,
Nowrang Persaud
