The Budget has noble intentions regarding social aid. A number of measures have been announced for children. Granting Rs 300 per month to severely disabled, incontinent and bedridden children and a one-off payment Rs 400 to school children is laudable. However, the money being paid to parents, will it be spent on children? Chances are that, in many cases, this money may find its way towards gambling, drinking, cigarettes, fast food...To ensure that children do benefit from such grants, the minister of Finance should have come up with non-monetary grants. For example, making an assessment of the actual monthly requirements of the children in question and providing them with milk, incontinence pads, clothing, footwear, nutritive biscuits, vitamin supplements, etc. For school children, a better idea would be to provide each with an annual pack comprising a school bag, school uniforms, exercise books, pencils, a pair of shoes, etc. Furthermore, such a scheme would also benefit SMEs if the government orders locally manufactured bags and uniforms, etc. from local small enterprises according to school catchment areas. Such schemes could be further enhanced with the participation of the private sector to donate in kind to assist our needy children. Non-monetary grants ensure that the end-users do benefit from the scheme. In this country, adults are fighting for a 40-hour working week or less, whilst our children spend nearly 75 hours a week in pursuit of education - 35 hours of formal education, the rest in tuition, inclusive of travelling time! Despite that, this country still faces massive skills shortage to man its emerging sectors! The urgency of the moment is to rethink the system to make it skills-oriented rather than exams-oriented.

Mohammed HAMUTH