USF to finance tuition of TAP students
Published:Friday | December 10, 2021 | 12:07 AMRasbert Turner/Gleaner Writer
CHIEF EXECUTIVE officer of the Universal Service Fund (USF), Daniel Dawes, has revealed that the organisation will finance the tuition of persons who matriculate to university under the Technical Advance Programme (TAP).
“We will pay 100 per cent tuition for anyone of the beneficiaries under TAP,” Dawes said.
“We are paying them $21,000 every two weeks while they are being trained in computer repairs for one year,” Dawes noted.
The USF CEO said that, so far, 1,400 people have benefited from the programme, which started two years ago.
He said that, upon completion of the one-year programme, each participant is certified by the HEART /NSTA Trust .
“When they are trained, they are given the percentage of the money during their training,” Dawes said.
He was speaking on Wednesday at the installation of a Wi-Fi site at De La Vega City in Spanish Town, St Catherine.
De La Vega was the sixth site targeted since December and forms part of 189 sites to be commissioned islandwide.
The programme is to be funded by the USF to the tune of $500 million, to provide Internet access to residents of the St Catherine community and surroundings.
St Catherine Eastern Member of Parliament Denise Daley said the gesture is a meaningful addition to enhance community life.
“The community is blessed with this site and we need to appreciate it,” Daley said.
“It will help the residents to come on board, especially during the pandemic when children cannot get online because parents have no data.”
The site in De La Vega City is the first of three in East St Catherine, with China Town and Windsor Heights scheduled to receive theirs in short order.
Principal of the Spanish Town Primary School, Roogae Kirlew, thanked the USF for its assistance to ease the access to Internet connectivity.
“The school is located in proximity to De La Vega City and our students will benefit tremendously, so I want to say thanks for the latest initiative,” Kirlew said.
There were greetings from custos of St Catherine Icyline Holding and Councillor Enos Lawrence of the Dela Vega City Municipal Corporation Division.
Several residents openly endorsed the new addition to their community.