Education in the constituency of St Mary South Eastern got a positive boost in recent weeks, with a two-fold initiative by Member of Parliament (MP) Dr Norman Dunn that saw a total of 521 students benefitting.

Last Sunday, the MP, who was preferred in a by-election in October 2017 to serve his first term in Jamaica’s House of Representatives, hosted the historic St Mary South Eastern Bursary Awards, whereby 43 students who matriculated to tertiary institutions for the 2019-20 academic year, were given grants.

The event was held at the newly refurbished and soon to be rededicated Westmoreland Oval in the coastal town of Annotto Bay, a part of the constituency.

Earlier, more than 480 students received vouchers for back-to-school preparations, during school graduation ceremonies across the constituency, among them the Annotto Bay Primary, Baxter’s Mountain, Enfield, Castleton, Richmond, Belfield, Clonmel, Mahoe Hill, and Devon Pen schools. Preparatory schools at St Cyprian’s on the constituency border of Highgate, and Dover, near west Portland, were also beneficiaries.

“This is my way of assisting the children of the constituency,” Dr Dunn told the Jamaica Observer. “This is the first time in South East St Mary that we were having a function to offer students some amount of support as they take on the tough task of heading back to school and becoming more qualified.

“Education is the key to the future of this country, and I am doing my best to ensure that as many children as possible can be given the opportunity to realise their goals and dreams,” said Dr Dunn, the holder of a Doctor of Pharmacy. “I am a product of education, I came from humble beginnings, and I want to ensure that this vehicle is encouraged and preserved as a means of upward mobility for persons.”

The first-time MP said that the overall spend from his Constituency Development Fund allocation was $3.2 million. There was also a further allocation toward books, in the form of vouchers, by the Ministry of Education.

Students who attend high schools were also assisted by the businessman, who is from Annotto Bay.

“At last week’s ceremony, we have close to 100 people attending and the number would had been greater, but many were preparing for the first day of school, and some, I understand, encountered transportation challenges.

“The education support was open to every applicable student in the constituency,” Dr Dunn went on. “I had no idea of the political colour of the people who attended, or their parents and relatives, nor did I care which political party, if any, they supported. In this country, we need to take partisan politics out of things and there should be no hindrances when it comes to the schooling of our children, who are our nation’s future,” the MP said.