The Government of Guyana has paid $81.09 million in education grants to 954 students sitting the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), following distribution exercises on 2 October. Each student received $85,000 under the "Because We Care" programme, which gives cash support to families with children in school. All sums are in Guyana dollars.

The Ministry of Education announced that distribution to CAPE students would take place on 2 October. Education Minister Sonia Parag visited sites at Diamond Secondary School and Queen's College. The exercise follows earlier payments this year to learners at other levels in public and private schools, and it completes the 2026 cycle.

The $85,000 package has three parts. A $60,000 education grant forms the core. A $20,000 annual transportation grant is new this year. A $5,000 voucher covers school uniforms. According to the government's outline, the 2026 increase raised the core grant from $50,000, and the programme has grown steadily since it was restored in 2021, when CAPE students received $19,000 each. The total available to a student at this level is now more than four times that sum.

The additions follow commitments the government made in 2025 to raise the base allowance and to introduce help with travel costs. The transportation grant addresses an expense that falls on families whose children travel daily to school, and the uniform voucher covers a cost that arises at the start of each school year. Together with the core grant, they are intended to ease the financial pressure that secondary education places on households.

The national budget for the programme is considerably larger than it was a year ago. The government says Budget 2026 allocates $17.5 billion to the initiative. In 2025 the allocation was $11 billion, and the grant reached about 205,000 students. The new figure is roughly 59 per cent higher. It is also close to what 205,000 students would receive at $85,000 each, although the number of 2026 recipients across all levels has not been given in the information available, and that comparison is arithmetic rather than a reported fact.

The grants form one part of a wider set of education payments. The government also pays examination fees for students sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and CAPE examinations, up to eight subjects each. According to the Ministry's mid-year reporting, that support reached 13,071 CSEC candidates and 666 CAPE candidates from public and private schools, at a cost of $853.3 million. The Ministry describes these measures as helping families meet education costs and keeping students in the school system.

The policy has also been an element of the government's argument about how oil revenue should be used. Officials have said that benefits should reach households across the country. In 2025, a government minister said the programme applies to every child in school, including children of Venezuelan families, without regard to nationality. That position gives the grant a universal character, since entitlement depends on enrollment and not on household income.

The CAPE payments carry a particular weight for families. Students at this level are in the final years of schooling, and the cost of subjects, materials and transport is often higher than at earlier stages. A parent quoted at a distribution in a previous year said CAPE subjects are more expensive than those at CSEC. The Ministry has not published a cost breakdown comparing the two levels.

The distribution of 954 grants at $85,000 each amounts to $81.09 million, a small share of the $17.5 billion allocation. The sum is nonetheless the largest per-student payment in the programme's history, going by the figures the government has published for earlier years. Whether the grant continues to rise in the 2027 budget has not been announced.

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