Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Nominations open for WATA Jamaica 60th education grants

$60,000 earmarked for each beneficiary

Published:Thursday | September 8, 2022 | 12:10 AM
Francois Chalifour, director of marketing and development at Wisynco.
Francois Chalifour, director of marketing and development at Wisynco.

Nominations are now open for the WATA Jamaica 60th Education Initiative, through which 200 Jamaican students and teachers have an opportunity to receive grants valued at $60,000 each.

A release from Wisynco notes that this year’s programme has been expanded, and is more substantial than any done before, through a $12-million fund financed by the contribution of one dollar from the sale of each 600ml Jamaica 60th tribute-branded bottle of WATA.

“To mark Jamaica 60th, we are giving much more this year financially and in the number of beneficiaries, while also for the first time, including teachers. The response to the yellow Jamaica 60th tribute-labelled WATA bottles has been great and shows that Jamaicans are fully behind this effort to give back for educational purposes,” said Francois Chalifour, director of marketing and development at Wisynco.

Textbooks, school supplies, uniforms and school fees are among the purposes for which the grant can be used.

Persons may nominate a student who is enrolled in a tertiary or secondary school, or a teacher who is employed to any institution – early childhood through to tertiary. Candidates at the basic-school level must be employed to registered early-childhood institutions. All nominees and institutions must be Jamaican.

Nominations can only be made online at www.watajamaica60.com and must be submitted by September 30.

Wisynco, through its WATA and other brands, has contributed more than $60 million this year to youth initiatives in the areas of sports and education. The company is also a sponsor of the Inter-Secondary Schools Association (ISSA) schoolboy football season, which begins on September 10.