SCHOOLS and students across the island will benefit from grants valued at a total of $12 million through the Wisynco Group Limited’s Hydrate to Educate with Wata Give Back programme.

The 2023 Hydrate to Educate with Wata initiative will see 42 secondary school students, three per parish, each receive a cash grant of $175,000. Fourteen schools, one from each parish, will also each receive technical assistance valued at $300,000.

Funds for this programme will come from the sale of commemorative 600ml bottles of Wata, identifiable by their yellow labels. The limited edition labels pay tribute to Jamaica’s achievements in sports with spotlight on the contribution of women. Also featured on the labels is the Wata Give Back Pledge, committing a portion of the sale of each bottle to education.

“Jamaicans prioritise education. We want to see schools functioning well and our children thriving. Through the Hydrate to Educate with Wata campaign, our customers are helping schools acquire technical support while also removing some of the cost barriers students and their families face with funding education,” said Francois Chalifour, director of marketing and development at Wisynco.

Students can be nominated at www.wataeducate.wisynco.com up to midnight on October 20, 2023. After this, the nominations will be reviewed and three students per parish selected for a cash grant. From among the institutions in which the successful 42 nominees are enrolled, 14 schools will be selected for the sporting equipment grant.

Anyone can nominate a student or students can also self-nominate.

In another extension of its support to youth, sports, and education, Wisynco, in partnership with the Jamaica Football Federation, is contributing to two scholarships valued at $300,000 each. This new initiative will see one boy and one girl player who have successfully transitioned from secondary school sports participation to the national programme qualifying for this scholarship.

Wata is known for backing youth, education, and sports programmes, such as the Inter-secondary School Association Schoolboy Football Competition which begins in September.

In 2022, to mark Jamaica’s 60th year of Independence, 120 students and 80 teachers received cash grants of $60,000 each from Education Wisynco Give Back fund.