‘Because We Care’ grant will benefit families, communities

– Minister Mustapha

Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha MP, urged parents and guardians in Region Six to ensure that they use the Government’s ‘Because We Care’ cash grant for their children’s education.

The Minister made this appeal when he led the grant distribution exercise at the No. 59, Leeds and Eversham primary schools in the Region Friday.

Minister Mustapha also reminded them that the reintroduction of the initiative is the fulfilment of the PPP/C administration’s campaign promise. He noted that the initiative would not only benefit the recipients, but their communities.

“When you receive the money, not you and your child alone benefit, but the entire community because you’ll go and spend that money in the community.”

Minister Mustapha also said the Government is committed to making investments in all sectors and throughout the country for the benefit of the citizenry.  Investments in education are among the Government’s priorities as it impacts the development of Guyana’s human resources, he added.

“To develop a country, we have to first of all develop the most important resources. One of the most important resources in our country is the human resources and that is why we recognise that we have to develop it and we have to constantly make investments in this sector.

“If a country has to develop and while our country is at the verge of taking off, when we are seeing or we will be witnessing unprecedented development, where a number of investors are coming into our country, we will need the skills so that our people will have the opportunities.”

Minister Mustapha said while the cash grants are only available for public school students from the nursery to secondary levels, the Government has also embarked on huge investments at the tertiary level through its Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarship initiative.

 The GOAL initiative will see some 20,000 scholarships being awarded over five-years.

“I’m very happy to say that this year alone, thousands of young people have already been selected to be given scholarships. Not only to the University of Guyana, but other reputable universities across the world, universities like the university of the West Indies, universities like Indira Gandhi University in India.

“Your child will be in their home and at the end of two years or four years, they will have a diploma or a degree which will prepare them to face the world out there so that they can make their contribution to our countries development.”

Meanwhile, several parents told DPI they were thankful for the grant. Ms. Annette Sookram told DPI the grant would enable her to send her children to school.

“[It] would let them get everything up to date at school and let them must go school to take them education. That’s what me want for them because abhie a very poor family and only that me could give my pickney them, a education.”

Ms. Raspattie Sookra shared similar sentiments.  “I’d like to thank the Government for the grant cash and everything that they do for the kids. I will put the money up fuh buy them school things them, I will not take them money and waste it or buy other things for me… me go buy things for my two kids them.” Minister Mustapha assured the parents that the grant is not a one-off investment, but the Government intends to continue, and increase it over the years.