KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is encouraging students to make good use of their education to better themselves and for the advancement of the country.

“If we want to change Jamaica, we must have a well-educated society…work hard in school and focus on your studies. It is said to whom much is given, much is expected,” she said.   

She was addressing the Portia Simpson Miller Foundation’s scholarship awards ceremony held on Thursday at the Mayfair Hotel in St Andrew.

The prime minister, in her presentation, said the Government continues to invest heavily in education, and is rated among countries in the region with the highest level of allocation to the sector as a percentage of the national budget.

“We are providing teachers with the best training, salaries and benefits that the country can afford. We are (also) building schools,” she noted.

During the scholarship awards ceremony, 41 students, who attend some 11 tertiary institutions across the island, were presented with more than $5 million for their tuition and miscellaneous fees.

The awardees hail from the parishes of Hanover, Westmoreland, St Catherine, Clarendon, St Elizabeth, St Mary, Portland, and Kingston and St Andrew.