Bartlett to build early childhood education centre in St James East Central
Published:Monday | August 1, 2022 | 12:05 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
St James East Central Member of Parliament Edmund Bartlett said that in October he will be establishing an educational centre for students in the constituency.
Bartlett, who is also the minister of tourism, made the announcement while addressing the St James East Central Scholarship and Welfare Fund’s 25th annual education awards function at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St James last Wednesday.
“On October 16 I would have served 20 years as the member of parliament for East Central St James. We will be having, among other things, a major event for our scholarship programme, because we have not had one for two years, and we are going to make that a very splendid event,” said Bartlett.
“The proceeds from that will go toward some critical things, one of which is to develop and build a centre for our students, especially early childhood students. We are looking for the land, and I have asked Councillor Mark McGann [the councillor for St James’ Somerton division] to scout and find the land,” Bartlett added.
According to Bartlett, some $13 million has been spent this year on education scholarships for exceptional students in St James East Central, as part of the mission of his scholarship programme which was initially launched in 1999 and awarded to students based on their performance in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).
LARGER PROGRAMME
“I want to indicate that this year’s programme is deliberately larger than the rest, because this year we are awarding a little over 300 students from primary school to high school and from secondary school to tertiary education,” he said.
“We cannot develop or grow a society of intolerance and indiscipline. We cannot continue to grow up a society of people who do not know how to deal with conflicts and how to solve social problems, how to reconcile differences at home, or how to use words to soothe pain and sorrow instead of using the gun, and our search for quick money is driving us to behaviour patterns that are destroying the nation.”
Top male and female Primary Exit Profile (PEP) students from 12 primary schools in St James East Central were awarded with educational grants of $20,000 over a five-year period at the function. Each student will consequently get a total of $100,000 over the next five years while they attend high school and maintain B-grade averages during their tenure.
That scholarship-awarding scheme replaces the former awarding of scholarships to graduates who achieved 80 per cent and higher averages in GSAT. The PEP exams and accompanying scoring system of allotting points for mastery of different subject areas replaced the GSAT’s percentage system in 2019.
Keynote speaker Floyd Green, minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, praised Bartlett’s dedication to the education of his constituency’s young people.
“Minister Bartlett has decided for 25 years to put his money in education. Can you imagine how many lives have been touched over 25 years, because of this project? I find a lot of our people are settling for mediocrity, but we were not born to be ordinary, we were born to be extraordinary,” Green said.