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PM Urges Students to Make Good Use of Education

By: , September 4, 2015

The Key Point:

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, is encouraging students to make good use of their education to better themselves and for the advancement of the country.
PM Urges Students to Make Good Use of Education
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller (right), makes a presentation to University of the West Indies student Shannon Castongaway. Occasion was the Portia Simpson Miller Foundation scholarship awards ceremony held on September 3, at the Mayfair Hotel in St. Andrew.

The Facts

  • She was addressing the Portia Simpson Miller Foundation’s scholarship awards ceremony held on September 3 at the Mayfair Hotel in St. Andrew.
  • The Prime Minister, in her presentation, said the Government continues to invest heavily in education, and is rated among countries in the region with the highest level of allocation to the sector as a percentage of the national budget.

The Full Story

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, is encouraging students to make good use of their education to better themselves and for the advancement of the country.

“If we want to change Jamaica, we must have a well-educated society…work hard in school and focus on your studies. It is said to whom much is given, much is expected,” she said.

She was addressing the Portia Simpson Miller Foundation’s scholarship awards ceremony held on September 3 at the Mayfair Hotel in St. Andrew.

The Prime Minister, in her presentation, said the Government continues to invest heavily in education, and is rated among countries in the region with the highest level of allocation to the sector as a percentage of the national budget.

“We are providing teachers with the best training, salaries and benefits that the country can afford. We are (also) building schools,” she noted.

During the scholarship awards ceremony, 41 students, who attend some 11 tertiary institutions across the island, were presented with more than $5 million for their tuition and miscellaneous fees.

The awardees hail from the parishes of Hanover, Westmoreland, St. Catherine, Clarendon, St. Elizabeth, St. Mary, Portland and Kingston and St. Andrew.

Final year dentistry student at the University of Technology (UTech), Jevauhna Johnson, who is the recipient of the Howard Aris scholarship, thanked the Portia Simpson Miller Foundation on behalf of his fellow awardees.

“(This) is a lifeline. We are forever indebted to you,” said Mr. Johnson, who has been the beneficiary of a full scholarship since 2012.

Echoing sentiments expressed by the Prime Minister, Mr. Johnson told his fellow awardees that “anything you put your mind to, you can achieve. Just believe it. Use this to propel you forward.”

Designed primarily to provide assistance to the health sector, promising children from unfortunate circumstances, and the elderly, the Portia Simpson Miller Foundation has been in operation for six years.

So far it has assisted more than 550 individuals.

Director and Treasurer of the Foundation, Makeda Ramgeet Baugh, said there are plans to boost fundraising in order to increase assistance.

Last Updated: September 4, 2015

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