KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Culture Health Arts Science and Education (CHASE) Fund has donated musical equipment valued at $800,000 to the Pembroke Hall High School.

The equipment, which was handed over during a ceremony held yesterday on the school grounds in Kingston, will go towards the development of the institution’s music programme.

Included are a mixing board, speaker boxes, monitors and 18-inch powered subaltos, wireless microphones and stands, and cables.

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Derrick Smith, who brought greetings at the handover function, thanked the CHASE Fund for the generous donation and encouraged the students to take advantage of the gift by participating in the school’s music programme.

“I want to reinforce that music… inculcates discipline. To play and study music will make you a much better student and individual,” he said.

Chief Executive Officer of CHASE, W ‘Billy’ Heaven, said the funding agency remains committed to promoting music education in Jamaica.

“We have a duty to deliver the resources and opportunities of which basic music education is part in order to enhance the learning of every child in this country. I urge all young people to take advantage of the opportunities to develop your creativity and your self-expression and your self-discipline, and your learning experience,” he said.

CHASE has provided 45 high schools with instruments to either set up a music department or a band. The value of this intervention is $35.4 million.

Additionally, at the community level, the funding agency has provided $13.9 million to support the establishment or expansion of 16 marching bands/drum corps.

The CHASE Fund has been contributing to music education in Jamaica for 13 years.  Fifteen per cent of available resources are spent on arts and culture projects.