PATH Top Achievers to Be Recognised on April 11

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS), will host the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) Top Achievers Awards Ceremony on April 11, at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston.

Twenty-eight PATH beneficiaries will be recognised for their academic achievements at the primary and secondary levels, based on the results of their 2023 Primary Exit Profile (PEP) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, respectively.

In addition, a former beneficiary will also be recognised with the PATH Trail-blazer Award for excelling in his/her academic or career pursuit.

The ceremony will be held under the theme ‘Celebrating Empowerment through Education’.

The PATH Top Achievers Awards were introduced in 2005 to serve as a promotional strategy to mark progressive attainment of one of the programme’s primary objectives – that of increasing educational attainment among poor families, by showcasing the achievements of the Programme’s beneficiaries who have excelled academically.

Since the inception of PATH in 2002, its primary objective has been to break the inter-generational poverty cycle through the delivery of targeted benefits to households that have been objectively identified as poor.

The programme design, therefore, actively supports human capital development through the imposition of school attendance conditionalities on children in the primary and secondary education system.

PATH has positively impacted the socio-economic conditions of vulnerable families nationally through the delivery of cash benefits and the introduction of a comprehensive suite of supporting interventions in labour intermediation and education support.

In addition to providing cash grants to support the education of children, the programme has provided grants to support post-secondary education and tertiary bursaries to support the attainment of bachelor’s degrees.