$10 million education fund in Bartlett's constituency

The East Central St James Education Fund, as part of its 20th anniversary of providing scholarships for students in the constituency, recently contributed $10 million in school supplies and grants for 250 students ahead of the start of the 2017-18 school year.

Edmund Bartlett, the constituency's member of parliament, made the announcement during the recent staging of the Education Fund's 20th annual tertiary awards ceremony at the Iberostar Hotel in Montego Bay, where 70 tertiary-education students received scholarships and supplies to assist in the pursuance of their studies.

"We have committed $10 million for the education programme for 2017. Of that amount, $7 million is for scholarships, and that is for 250 students this year who will receive and have already received scholarships," Bartlett said in his address to the recipients.

"We have put aside J$1 million for textbooks, and we have provided vouchers for that already. Also central to this programme of textbooks is another $500,000, separate and apart for the grade-six and grade-four students of the 14 primary schools in the constituency," Bartlett added.

Of the remaining amount, $500,000 worth of schoolbags were handed out to several students, and J$1 million has been set aside for special cases of children in need who are unable to source school supplies.

In the last 20 years, 1,500 students in East Central St James have been beneficiaries of the constituency's Education Fund.