Education ministry receives donation of 60,000 masks for school children

The Ministry of Education on Thursday received some 60,000 face masks from N & S Mattai’s Food Market which will be distributed to school children across the country.  

The masks valued at $500,000 was presented to Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Anand Persaud, MP, who accepted the items on behalf of the education ministry.

Minister Persaud extended his gratitude to Mattai’s for the donation, which he said will protect thousands of students against COVID-19.

“For the number of years that I have known the Mattai’s they have always been good corporate citizens. Today is no different in the sense that they have remembered our children especially and more over with the COVID-19 pandemic that is wreaking havoc not only in Guyana, but throughout the world. I think it is an excellent gesture and I want to thank him on behalf of Minister Priya Manickchand and the children of this country. I know they will benefit from this because you know the schools have been reopened not fully but those children will be more protected at this point in time.”

In an invited comment, co-owner of the food market, Ms. Bharati Mattai reiterated the importance of safety measures as well as ensuring the population is inoculated against the deadly disease. 

“We are contributing, we are donating all these masks again for the safety of the public because we need to have herd immunity and it’s not going as fast as we would like it to go so, we are doing our part to ensure that we can all be safe in Guyana and as such worldwide, so this is one of the little things we are doing at the moment.”

The Ministry of Education has collaborated with the Ministry of Health to immunise adolescents against COVID-19. A number of initiatives have also been rolled out to ensure the safety of children returning to school at this time.