Minister of Education Priya Manickchand yesterday denied claims that Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) were expected to cover expenses for volunteering teachers during the payout of the government’s ‘Because We Care’ cash grant.
“Nothing has changed from last year to this year. Regions did different things as far as teachers were concerned,” Manickchand told Stabroek News.
She added that teachers were asked to volunteer to work for the day and they did. She noted that in regions Six and Eight, the region is providing lunch while in region 3, a lunch allowance was given. Schools in Georgetown were asked to provide lunch for the teachers who were working but were asked to indicate if there was any difficulty in doing so.
“If there were, help from the department would be provided,” she said. Based on the information she received, she added, only two schools in Georgetown asked for help.
A head teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, had told Stabroek News on Monday that they were told that PTAs were expected to cover the expense of teachers at the distribution of the cash grant even though it is a Ministry of Education activity.
“That is very unreasonable. We are now coming out of a pandemic,” the teacher said.
