Dowlath says all approved book grants paid

Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath is in­sist­ing that all ap­proved school sup­plies and book grants have been paid, de­spite com­plaints from ap­pli­cants who re­ceived ap­proval no­tices but are still await­ing their mon­ey.

The is­sue arose dur­ing Tues­day’s Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee ex­am­i­na­tion of the 2027 Bud­get, when St Ann’s East MP and for­mer Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly ques­tioned Dowlath about out­stand­ing pay­ments and the fu­ture of the pro­gramme.

The ex­change al­so re­vealed that, for the sec­ond con­sec­u­tive fis­cal year, the Gov­ern­ment has made no ini­tial bud­getary al­lo­ca­tion for the grant, with Dowlath say­ing its fu­ture re­mains un­der re­view.