KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Foundation has donated a cheque for over $2 million to cover exam fees for students sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Industrial Technology (Electrical) exams in 2021.

The grant provides for 525 students from 29 high schools across the island, bringing to 2,324 the number of high school students benefitting from its CSEC sponsorship since 2016, informed the foundation.

It said the total contribution to the programme over the period has been $8 million.

The cheque was presented to the Overseas Examinations Commission (OEC), which falls under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

Addressing a small gathering at the handover ceremony, Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Fayval Williams, thanked the JPS Foundation for its continued corporate outreach and expressed the importance of integrating skills-based learning in the Jamaican education system.

“Given that TVET is playing such an important role in providing the skill sets required by enterprises within our economies, it is an imperative that the expansion of technical and vocational education be a priority objective of all educational strategies,” Williams was quoted as saying.

JPS Foundation said the outreach was borne out of its objective to support the Government’s efforts to have each student graduate from high school with a skills based subject, as well as to foster the development of future energy experts.