Dear Editor,
For the year 2023, government-supported cash grants to each student amount to $40,000. Anecdotes abound of how these grants are being abused as the one last year where the mother took the grants to her three children and bought an electric bicycle instead, only to wreck it as she exited the supplier because of lack of operational skill. But I have noticed an increase in school-aged children begging at traffic lights, the latest was at Conversation Tree Road and Railway Embankment this Friday afternoon, where two young kids approached my car. I asked each why they were not in school and the answers I received were no schoolbooks and no shoes. One would expect an inverse relationship between increased support and the incidence of begging, but this seems to be the opposite, again pointing to abuse of the supporting funds.
It never made sense to me that cash support should be given to parents for their school-aged children, cash being the controlling word. While most parents are responsible and will direct the cash funds to ensuring their children attend school well attired and with all the supplies needed, there are others who would use such support for purposes that have very little to do with their children’s education. Cash cannot be easily traced and is ideal for unsavory transactions. It’s the reason the US government issues food vouchers, which can only be used to acquire foodstuff, instead of giving cash to this needy demographic.
So, until the government is able to demonstrate the effectiveness of its students’ cash support programme, it should resort to providing directly to students the goods and services the cash grants were intended to provide. Perhaps the availability of such programmes will incentivize students to attend classes instead of begging on the streets.
Sincerely,
Louis Holder
