Millions In Back-to-school Support for St. James Students

Students across the parish of St. James benefited from over $18 million in assistance for back-to-school expenses for the 2025/26 academic year. 

Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon, provided details of the support during the monthly meeting of the St. James Municipal Corporation on Thursday (Sept.11). 

He informed that 20 scholarships valued at $2 million, were awarded to students under the Mayor’s Scholarship Programme.  

Thirteen of the recipients are enrolled at the tertiary level, while the remaining seven are secondary school students. 

Mayor Vernon said the awards represent a significant investment in the parish’s future. 

“Each recipient carries the hopes of a community that believes in their brilliance and represents the general ideal of Jamaica’s current trajectory towards a more skilled and productive society,” he said.  

Additionally, between June and August 2025, the Mayor allocated $15.5 million in back-to-school support across all 17 divisions.  

Further allocations of $500,000 were made to the St. James Poor Relief programme, which provided tuition for tertiary students with grade point average (GPA) of between 2.5 and 4.0, as well as high school students with averages ranging from 70 to 98 per cent. 

The fund was also used to purchase school supplies such as uniforms, books, and shoes.  

Mayor Vernon said that students can now access academic mentorship from the management team of the Corporation.  

Meanwhile, he is encouraging individuals to take advantage of the opportunity to study in China. 

Scholarship awards are now available for persons between the ages of 18 and 45 to study at the bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral levels. 

The initiative comes out of a sister-city relationship between Montego Bay and China’s Shandong province. 

Mayor Vernon said the scholarship represents “a gateway to global education” for ambitious residents across the parish. 

“One significant avenue of empowerment is education and the St. James Municipal Corporation is enabling our youth to realise freedom and develop themselves,” he noted.  

He extended gratitude to Clinton Chin, which started the sister-city relationship between Montego Bay and China that spans over 15 years. 

Interested residents may contact the Mayor’s office for further information on the scholarship.