PEOPLE’S National Party (PNP) candidate/caretaker for North West St James, Gordon Brown, will be awarding scholarships to 10 inner city youth in a move which he said was geared at breaking the cycle of unemployment and lack of educational opportunities within many of the Montego Bay’s inner city communities.

He will also be donating a similar number of computers to primary schools within the constituency in time for the new school year.

“What we’re trying to do is identify and develop a circle of excellence… something that is going to have continuity,” Brown told the Observer.

Scholarship recipients will be drawn from sections of Norwood, parts of Flankers and Canterbury, the North and South gully areas and Rose Heights in Montego Bay.

Brown argued that for too long, entrepreneurs have sought to fill job vacancies on the basis of where people live, rather than on their qualifications, educational or otherwise.

“What we’re hoping to do is … to take a sort of incubatory approach to the development of youths,” he added.

Through the scholarships, it is hoped that the students, once selected, will become role models for other inner city youths to succeed.

The value of the scholarship package is still being calculated, but it will cover the students tenure at high school. The awardees will be chosen on the basis of GSAT scores, leadership qualities and commitment to community/humanity.

Meanwhile, a rough estimate of the cost of the promised computers has been placed at US$11,000. The schools will be selected based on need, Brown explained.

The donation of the computers, he added, was aimed at ensuring that students have the tools needed to take full advantage of the educational system.

“One of the things that we have to be careful not to do, is to build a mighty edifice on the foundation which is non-existent,” Brown said.