SAGICOR Bank Jamaica has awarded three of its new Star Savers account holders with tuition grants valued at $150,000 each, and another three with “learning corners” complete with desks, chairs, laptops, and bookshelves to support their education.

The six students received the prizes after they were selected as the winners of the bank's recently concluded 'Vax and Win' initiative, in which vaccinated parents opened savings accounts for their children. The promotion ran from October 11 to 29 last year. The first 100 students also received deposits of $5,000 in their accounts during the promotional period.

Haylee Hazel, Jayden K Williams and Abigail Julal were winners of the learning corners, while Joshua Watson, Jayden M Williams, and Akielah Thompson were recipients of the education grants.

Althea Johnson was delighted that her daughter, Haylee Hazel, was one of winners of the learning corner, as she needed a dedicated workstation in the house.

“The little area that she had before was so small that she had to keep moving back and forth for different books and tools while attending classes online,” Johnson said. “And I'm really happy that she received a laptop because she had to be using mine before.”

Other parents shared similar sentiments as they either collected their cheques at their closest Sagicor Bank branches or had the learning corners delivered to their homes last month.

Loven McCook, regional manager at Sagicor Bank, said the Vax and Win promotion was created to incentivise Jamaicans to better secure their children's future, while helping to move the needle on the country's vaccination rate.

“Our objective with this campaign is to instill in our children healthy money management habits from an early age so they can develop the tools needed to secure their financial futures,” McCook said. “We anticipate that the funds and learning resources have also come in very handy as parents are now looking to return their children to face-to-face learning.”

He reiterated Sagicor Bank Jamaica's commitment to the financial and educational advancement of the population.

“Amidst the changes in restrictions due to new developments in this pandemic, we must ensure that our children are able to learn — whether they are in school or at home,” he said. “Sagicor Bank is delighted to be able to use initiatives such as these to continue to encourage our parents to focus on the education of our children, while also rewarding those who have taken that step to secure their own help. Education is key.”