The Alumina Partners of Jamaica (ALPART) will grant seven students within its operational areas in St Elizabeth and Manchester tertiary scholarships valued at $750,000 each, annually.

The scholarships are tenable at the University of Technology (UTECH), the Northern Caribbean University (NCU), GC Foster College, and the College of Agriculture, Science and Technology (CASE).

ALPART’S General Manager Darrel Harriman said that the 2007 awards are a continuation of a programme started in 2004 which now has 20 students on campus in various disciplines such as engineering, medicine, business, social sciences, agriculture and sports.

In addition to the scholarships, Alpart also grants 65 annual merit awards to the most outstanding students at primary and all-age levels from among schools located in its neighbouring communities.

The awards offer school fee assistance or text book provisions worth an average $8,000 each.

Alpart also provides annual back-to-school assistance to provide uniforms or school accessories for over 300 students-in-need who are recommended for such assistance by their community or district leaders.

Alpart’s General Manager Darrel Harriman said the company has made education the centrepiece of its community development programmes.

He pointed out that a summer employment programme for some 35 tertiary level students and a work experience programme at the high school level accommodates 50 students each year.

Work experience also extends to a major industrial apprenticeship programme conducted in partnership with HEART NTA since 1999. A total of 72 graduates from that programme have been employed at Alpart with a further 45 apprentices currently in training at the plant.

The company shares it industrial safety programme with some 10,000 students and 30 schools each year through the Alpart Home/School/Street Safety Awareness project.

The HSS programme earned a World Safety Council award in 1992 and utilises essays, debates, quiz competitions, drama, art and music, to inculcate safety, environment and health values in schools and communities.

Harriman also pointed out that Alpart has donated land and playfields for several schools in its plant and mining areas, and manages a schools’ sports development programme in cricket, athletics, netball and football for 17 schools in the Essex Valley bordering South St Elizabeth and Manchester.