The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is currently probing the disappearance of one envelope containing $30,000 of the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has revealed.
The Minister made the revelation while speaking on the Gildharie-Freddie Kissoon show on Monday night.
Initially, two envelopes were unaccounted for, but Minister Manickchand revealed that they managed to locate one. The Education Minister did not disclose the Region nor the name of the school where the incident occurred.
But said, “A staff of the school that was involved in the distribution process signed for the parent, but when the parent [turned] up then the availability for that grant was not there for them because someone signed next to their name. Immediately, the police was called in, and a police investigation is going on.”
In the other instance where the second envelope went missing, she said, “it seems to have stuck when they were packing on to another envelope.”
These were the only two envelopes unaccounted for throughout the entire distribution exercise, the Minister noted.
However, overall, the exercise was deemed as “accountable” as there were live auditors on the scene monitoring the process.
Minister Manickchand explained that the number of envelopes distributed reflected the list of registered students provided by the various schools.
From this initiative, over 200,000 students attending public and private schools benefitted. The distribution of the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant wrapped up on Friday last across the country.
