‘It was your money too when APNU+AFC refused to give it’ – Manickchand raps Norton

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has responded to Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton’s recent statement regarding the “Because We Care” cash grant initiative which was introduced by the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) administration in 2014 but scrapped when the APNU+AFC entered office in 2015.

In a statement on the Peoples National Congress (PNC) Facebook Page, Norton said “the PPP/C wants you to thank them for handing out tens of thousands…Let’s be clear: those grants are not gifts; they’re your money.”

But in a statement on her Facebook Page, the Education Minister reminded that “it was your money too, my friends when his party refused to give it to you from 2015 -2020.”

The “Because We Care” cash grant initiative was first introduced in 2014 at a value of $10,000 per student in the public education sector, however, it was discontinued under the previous APNU+AFC administration.

The initiative was re-introduced in 2020 when the PPP returned to office. In addition to the grant being increased to its present value of $50,000, it has been expanded to include students in the private education sector.

The $50,000 is distributed alongside the $5,000 uniform voucher grant; this means each student is entitled to a total of $55,000.

This year, $11 billion has been allocated in the 2025 budget for the distribution of the grant to 205,000 children in public and private schools nationwide.

Manickchand has since reminded, “They (APNU+AFC) didn’t even have to conceive of the program. The PPP/C started it and left it there for them. They snatched it from you and replaced it with nothing.”

“At that time it was costing $1.6B. When they took this away they increased their dietary allocation by $1.6B… so it wasn’t that they did not have the money. Is just they didn’t want you to have it,” the minister noted.