THE Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA), in collaboration with the National Commercial Bank (NCB), will this month distribute 7,000 exercise books, valued at approximately $1.5 million, to primary school students.

The books are being distributed under the ‘Buy Jamaican School Books Distribution Initiative’, designed to help promote the brand and message of the JMA — ‘Buy Jamaican… Build Jamaica’.

Among the participating institutions are:

* Allman Town Primary and Cavaliers All-Age;

* St Aloysius Primary and Denham Town Primary;

* St Jude’s Primary and Newton Primary; as well as

* Alderton Primary.

Under the initiative launched last Thursday at Allman Town Primary in Kingston, each school will be given 1,000 books to distribute.

“Fostering a culture of supporting Jamaican-made products must begin at an early age,” said Imega Breese McNab, executive director of Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association, who spoke at the launch.

“Our young people need to be encouraged to read their labels (so that they may be able) to identify the wide range of quality, world-class products (which are) made in Jamaica, and made aware of the impact of their choices on the economic development (of Jamaica) and their own futures,” she added.

Principal of Allman Town Primary, Kandi-Lee Crooks-Smith, for her part, said the initiative was a step in the right direction.

“Children influence what is purchased by their parents or even by the school and they will be the ones with the spending power in the future. We have to teach them to buy Jamaican and to appreciate what is made in Jamaica, as oftentimes our products are superior to those from abroad,” Crooks-Smith noted.

NCB, since April 2011, has committed to partner with the JMA to push the initiative. They are the major financial contributors of the project.