OCHO RIOS, St Ann – Prime Minister P J Patterson has expressed disappointment with the poor response by tertiary level students over the past two years to the Jamaica Values and Attitude (JAMVAT) project, aimed at assisting needy students at that level with grants in return for community service.

The project, which the prime minister launched four years ago, allows students to contribute to nation building by way of meaningful learning and earning opportunities.

Students are required to do 200 hours of community service, as outlined in the JAMVAT guidelines, in exchange for grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 annually. For the academic year 2005-2006, $113.4 million has been budgeted for the programme.

When announced back then, Patterson said while the government was committed to providing funding assistance, the fundamental issue was to have the “brightest and best contribute to the development of our society through community and social service”.

The first 50 per cent of the grant will be payable on completion of the first 100 hours of community service and the balance on the completion of the second 100 hours. The grant will cover needs such as boarding, tuition and books.

But speaking Thursday at a forum put on by the Ministerial Fraternity of the North Jamaica Mission of Seventh-day Adventists, the prime minister said only about 30 per cent of the expected amount of students had participated in the programme.

“Indeed, in the past fiscal year only 800 students have completed the programme. This is despite the provision made for some 2,500 possible participants,” Patterson said.

He said students who have not passed the Students’ Loan Bureau’s means test, but who are ready and willing to undertake the 200 hours of community service in exchange for the payment of 30 per cent of their school fees, will now be accommodated under the JAMVAT programme.

And as a result of this poor response, the prime minister has asked the Adventists to encourage the large number of young students who come under the influence of the church, to take advantage of what he said was the “wonderful opportunity” being offered by the JAMVAT programme.

“I urge you to help to promote these programmes that the state is providing. Combined with the efforts of the church, we can give practical help and guidance to our youth and restore a sense of hope and belonging to their generation. We dare not fail,” he said.

Patterson, who earlier this week announced big plans for the education sector, said the expansion of social programmes is another major area of concern as the government seeks to improve values and attitudes.

Patterson’s comments come two years after he hailed the programme a success, in March 2003, 18 months into its implementation. At the time he hailed JAMVAT as a meaningful project which can achieve the desired incomes and outcomes and has far exceeded our optimistic expectations.

Last August, due to budgetary constraints and logistical problems, programme workshops were put on hold and it was proposed, according to coordinator of the programme Captain Paul Barrett, that a combination of journal/task book and instructional videos and/or CDs be delivered to the JAMVAT participants, beginning this academic year.

Apart from the JAMVAT programme, Patterson announced on Tuesday the expansion of several other social programmes including the national summer employment programme, for which $40 million has been budgeted; the PATH programme, which has 236,000 persons listed as potential benefactors; the high school equivalency programme; the national youth service, and the Lift-Up Jamaica programme.

The biggest programme, however, is the Inner-City Basic Services for the Poor, which is to be funded to the tune of $1.5 billion, which has been committed from the World Bank.