It’s a shame and disgrace to see a certain political party using a couple of parents to picket the government and the Ministry of Education for a mere pittance of $10,000. We Care voucher for their own political gains, while some of these same people is being accused of stealing millions if not billions of dollars from the state treasury while in office, and run the country bankrupt I happened to drive pass In front of the Cotton Field, Secondary School and saw about 13 women picketing with known PPP activists, shouting, no voucher, no school, I had to take a second look to see if it was the teachers on strike because of the chanting, no voucher, no school.
I stopped and saw two top officers from the PPP, which is heading the regional democratic council, Pomeroon/Supenaam region two, holding placards and in conversation. I assumed that these were paid picketers from that same party, trying to make the newly elected coalition look bad. These officers are being paid by taxpayers to conduct the government business and should have been in their offices to meet with members of the public to hear their complaints and address them. I later understood that a number of rice farmers went to meet the officers to repair their dams so they could harvest their paddy without much difficulty.
On arriving at the office, they were told that the two officers were not in the office; they were on the road leading a picketing exercise with parents for the We Care $ 10,000.vouchers, the farmers and other members of the public came from as far as Charity and Supenaam and nearby communities only to be turned away without seeing them. As far as I can remember this We Care $ 10,000 was implemented in 2014, coming near to the elections in May 11th 2015 to buy votes for the PPP. Most of these parent and guardian who received this money did not buy uniform or books for their children,some of these children do not even attend school, the money were spent on other things.
This money wasn’t spent beneficially on the schoolchildren, and no one from the education department ever monitored whether the children, whose parents received the money, were attending school. As a little boy, I had to help my parents in the rice field to plant and reap the rice when school was closed so my parents could get money to feed my 7 brothers and 2 sisters and buy school clothes, books, and shoes. We never depended on We Care vouchers,in fact there were nothing like help or We Care $ 10,000.If our school uniforms were torn, my mother would patch them, and we would attend school with them. Sometimes, we would go to school without shoes when they were damaged.
The only thing we received in our school days was 2 cups of milk and biscuits from the school feeding program; there was nothing like brand-name pants, shirts, or shoes. Boots, my mother, after receiving money from my father, would go to the shop and buy the cloth, and we would go to the village tailor. He would then sew our school pants and shirts. Without help from the government, I managed to get a higher education. I first started out school at St Agnes Anglican School, Danielstown, some 2 miles away from home,every morning and afternoon I would walk to school,life was no bed of roses. I later attended Rosignol secondary school in Berbice a very far county from my home and later went to Berbice High School in New Amsterdam.
My parents made a lot of sacrifices to educate 9 children without a penny of assistance from the government. I also made the same sacrifice for my two sons, without We Care, and they were able to attend CPCE, GSA, and the University of Guyana, where both gained degrees with credit. They are now doing their master’s degrees overseas. Education is better than silver and gold; knowledge is a treasure. Seek it,don’t depend on handouts from any government. If you want an education, just make the sacrifice and don’t let any political party use you for their personal agenda or gains. A parent’s duty is to look after and care for their children from nursery through university.
Yours faithfully.
Mohamed Khan.
