JPS Foundation sponsoring fees for 2024 CSEC electrical exam

The JPS Foundation has provided grant funding of more than $2.6 million to cover exam fees for students sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Industrial Technology (Electrical) exams in June 2024.

The announcement was made by JPS Chairman Damian Obiglio during a handover ceremony last week, held at the company’s New Kingston head office in St Andrew.

“This year, the JPS Foundation will be paying the exam fees for 558 students, the largest number to have qualified in any single year since the programme started in 2016,” Obiglio disclosed.

The disbursement will benefit students at 36 high schools across the island.

The 2023-2024 sponsorship brings the number of high school students benefitting from the JPS Foundation’s CSEC Grant since its commencement to more than 3,200 at an overall provision of $12.6 million.

Addressing the handover ceremony, Dr Clover Hamilton-Flowers, acting deputy chief education officer in the Ministry of Education and Youth, thanked the JPS Foundation for its continued corporate outreach and expressed the importance of supporting the education system and empowering Jamaican youths to achieve their goals.

In the meantime, Sharon Burnett, deputy director of examination services at the Overseas Examinations Commission, noted that the concept of the partnership had long been the vision of the leadership of the Commission, even prior to various private sector entities lending support to students sitting these exams. She informed the audience that the cost of sitting the external exams has proven prohibitive for some, and has therefore been a source of relief for students and parents.

Sophia Lewis, head of JPS Foundation, pointed out that the grant represented one aspect of the Foundation’s commitment to the development of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) locally.

She highlighted the organisation’s emphasis on this critical area, through its high school involvement in the Power Up Energy Clubs, the JPS/UWI five-year partnership for CAPE Workshops and the JPS Engineering Internship Programme, all of which support students exploring and excelling in STEM subjects.

First-timers in the grant programme, Kingston High School, were represented at the handover ceremony by their CSEC coordinator, Andrea Binns, who explained that the students were achieving the required grades to qualify for the funding, and were enthused to be among the newest beneficiaries of the programme.

The JPS Foundation was established in 2012 and is the corporate social responsibility arm of the company, with particular focus on science and technology education and environmental management.