Bartlett to launch welfare and education foundation
Published:Wednesday | July 11, 2018 | 12:00 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Member of Parliament for East Central St James Edmund Bartlett has announced plans to establish his own Ed Bartlett Education and Welfare Foundation to benefit youths in his constituency.
The announcement comes as no surprise because over the last 21 years, education has been the MP's focus, evidenced by the more than $100 million that he has spent on financing education programmes in the constituency over the period.
Bartlett explained that $50 million of this sum has been spent "on primary, high-school and tertiary-education arrangements".
Addressing hundreds of Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) students, parents and educators at the Half Moon Conference Centre on Sunday during his annual GSAT awards function, Bartlett said that establishing his charitable organisation would further boost education in the East Central St James constituency. He pointed out that the education programmes now offered in the constituency offer equal opportunities for all students living in the constituency and, for two decades, have never been coloured by politics.
Cultural programme
The MP said that within months, he would be rolling out a cultural programme in the 14 primary and two high schools within his constituency. The project, which is to commence at the John Rollins Success Primary School in Rose Hall, will include the implementation of a multimillion-dollar music programme involving the establishment of three community marching bands in the constituency.
Ten million dollars has been allocated to the marching-band project. One of the bands is to be established for Barrett Town and other areas of Rosehall. The second will benefit the citizens of Somerton and the areas surrounding that East Central St James community, and the third will be for Spring Mount, Johns Hall and the areas near them.
"These are instruments of pride. These are activities of cohesion within communities, and it makes people feel proud," Bartlett stated.
At the awards ceremony, Irwin Primary was named the top school in the constituency, producing a large number of students with GSAT averages above 90 per cent.
Top boy and girls, Shemar Hemmings, Myisha Miller and Lashana Whyte, were presented with trophies, tablets and scholarship cheques. Over 100 students were recognised from various schools in the constituency.