St Catherine students get financial support as they head into high school

At least 27 needy students from seven schools in St Catherine have received financial support to assist them in their preparations for entering high school in September.

The help came in the form of a $15,000 scholarship from the Poverty Alleviation and Empowerment Foundation (PAEF).

The students who benefited from the award attended McCauley Primary, Davis Primary and Infant, Old Harbour Primary, Old Harbour Bay Primary, Friendship Primary, Point Hill Leased Primary, and St Johns Primary in the parish.

Scholarship awardees were selected using PAEF’s established criteria. The requirements are that the student must be in need and attained a minimum average of 75 per cent in the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams.

Founder and Executive Director of PAEF, Pauline Gregory-Lewis, told The Gleaner that the foundation’s scholarship programme was intended to assist the dispossessed as they make the transition from primary to high school.

The PAEF started in 2014 with a breakfast programme in a number of schools in St Catherine and maintains the outreach to many students in 2023.

She said that in dialogue with principals and guidance counsellors in the targeted primary schools, it was revealed how students were unable to attend the institutions at times owing to the needs that arise in the area of meals.

The foundation’s scholarship programme started with four students, and the number increased over the years to as many as 32 youngsters.

This year, 27 scholarships were granted as students from one institution did not meet a critical requirement of a minimum 75 per cent average in the PEP.

“Our focus has remained, among other things, on helping needy students who have persevered despite the odds of lack and other vulnerabilities due to their parents’ inability to adequately provide for them. Our intent is to offer both they and their parents some help to prepare for their new phase of learning as they move on to high school,” Gregory-Lewis said.

Every student also received a copy of the Obedient Cow Series authored by Gregory-Lewis, which is aimed at promoting good values and attitudes among students.

Book 1 of the series looks at the value of obedience; Book 2, Kindness; Book 3, the joy of working together; Book 4, honesty the best policy; and Book 5, the power of love.

PAEF presented its first scholarships in 2015 at which time six students were awarded. The numbers grew, and in 2019 and 2020, PAEF awarded 30 students in each of those years the sum of $20,000 each.