The disbursement of the government’s $15,000 education cash grant will begin in a few months, according to Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall.
“In the next few months, we will distribute the $15,000 for every schoolchild, the school grant that [former President David] Granger took away in 2015. So this year every schoolchild will receive their $15,000,” he told residents of Black Bush Polder on Monday.
Additionally, Dharamlall pointed out, that pension and public assistance have also increased this year, “so a lot of money is being put into building the human social development of people.”
He further stressed to the residents that there are challenges in education given that schools have been out for a very long time now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We hope that within Black Bush, the schools within the polders, that our teachers are still working with our students.”
He reminded, “Teachers are not on leave. They are supposed to be at work so if it is that a month away or a month and a half away from NGSA and teachers are still skylarking in Region Six and in Black Bush, we need to know because we are paying them to be here to give our students proper education.”
The minister also explained that the Regional Education Officer has been directed to ensure that arrangements can be put in place to ensure that students who are supposed to be in schools could have access to some sort of interaction with teachers. “We have too many excuses before where teachers, even while sharing worksheets, they were leaving the parents to take care of the children and what we have found is that in many cases parents have to go to work, parents have to secure their own livelihoods,” he added.
Also, he pointed out, in some cases many parents do not understand the curriculum being taught to the students, “So how can they help these children?”
