Education Minister Welcomes National Scholarship Digest

Minister of Education, Rev. Hon. Ronald Thwaites, has welcomed the publication of National Scholarship Digest, noting that it will enable more students facing economic challenges to identify funding for higher education.

“We are faced with lots and lots of students, who are capable…and able to matriculate into university but they can’t do so because of economic circumstances. We have a couple of dozen, who are in danger of being deregistered just before final exams because they can’t make the payments and they didn’t know of scholarships,” he said.

The Minister was speaking on April 24, at the official launch of the document published by Next Move Jamaica (NMJ) at General Accident insurance company’s Half-Way-Tree Road offices in Kingston.

He commended the NMJ on its initiative and General Accident for sponsoring the publication. “No one should be denied educational advancement because of a lack of resources and you are contributing to that principle with the publication of this digest of scholarships,” he said.           

The Education Minister noted that access to education, particularly at the tertiary level, is critical in the advancement of the nation and used the opportunity to call for partnerships to building a quality education system, as the state could not do it alone.     “We provide a place for everyone in the pre-primary cohort, we provide universal primary education, 85 per cent of our secondary cohort find a place in high school and now almost 33 per cent of the tertiary cohort are engaged in one of the 17 universities and colleges and 47 accredited programmes of tertiary education that we have in this country,” he pointed out.

The National Scholarship Digest provides a comprehensive listing of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate study; certain fields and discipline including law, medicine, mass communication and engineering; as well as tertiary institutions located in Jamaica and other countries such as China and Australia.

It also provides a guide for students to understand the applications process, how to navigate the 4,200 listed scholarships valued in excess of $9 billion, and access to information on honing interview skills, as well as where, how and when to apply.

Limited free copies of the digest will be distributed to all secondary and tertiary institutions island wide. Copies can also be purchased for $1,500.

During the ceremony, two students, who attend the University of the West Indies, Mona campus was presented with scholarships valued at $70,000 each. They are Corey Anderson and Kayla Belnavis.

By Chris Patterson, JIS Reporter