$261,000,000 in Projected Expenditure for MoECST in 2023

Francis Fonseca

The rollout of the free education program to four additional high schools will come at a cost. That is one of the many reasons why the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology has the second highest projected spending in the 2023 General Revenue Appropriation Bill, a whopping two hundred and sixty-one million dollars. And, according to Minister Fonseca, this says a lot about the priority his government is placing on education.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“We are obviously very grateful, as I said thanks to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance, the cabinet for their solid, strong unwavering support to education. I think I can tell you, I mean, cabinet, all of my colleagues understand and appreciate the critical importance of investing in education. Whether it is you’re talking about national security issues, um, you know, fighting crime, when you’re talking about human development, fighting poverty. The training of our people for investments, for competing, skills training, getting our people prepared to participate in economic development. Everybody recognizes that we need to invest in our people. Education is the key to lifting our country out of, you know, and lifting people out of poverty. But it’s the key to growth and development. We are very, very pleased. As you said, education continues to get majority share after the Ministry of Finance of the budget. It’s an absolute reflection of the priority. Our administration places on education.”