- NORMAN GRINDLEY/Staff Photographer
Minister of Education Maxine Henry-Wilson (centre) and Professor Neville Ying (left) in discussion with NCB's Peter Lawson at a press conference at the NCB Atrium in New Kingston yesterday.
Petrina Francis, Education Reporter
THE NATIONAL Commercial Bank (NCB) yesterday handed over a cheque valued at $15.2 million to the overseas examinations office for the sponsorship of fees for the 2005 Caribbean Examination Council (CXC). The fees will cover the subjects of principles of accounts and principles of business examinations.
Pamela Harrison, administrator at the NCB Jamaica Education Initiative, said the cheque represents sponsorship for 13,314 applications from public secondary schools and 506 from independent secondary schools, which amounts to a total of 13,820 entries. This, she said, is an increase of 764 entries over the last year. Mrs. Harrison was addressing journalists, educators and students at a press conference, held at the NCB Trafalgar Road offices.
She implored students to improve the grades in both subjects, stressing the fact that there was no substitute for excellence.
For 2004, the total passes for principles of accounts were 62 per cent as opposed to the 72 per cent for principles of business.
"I would like to say to all the students here, I want you to take a message back to the schools to let them know that all of you need to work for excellence and do the very best you can. We would like to see a tremendous increase, particularly in grades and the overall performance," Mrs. Harrison stressed.
Meanwhile, Professor Neville Ying, chairman of the overseas examinations board, lauded NCB for its commitment to education, saying "This represents a major investment in the human resources of our country."
CRITICAL IMPORTANCE
He said that education and development of human resources are of critical importance to Jamaica and other countries in the Caribbean region in order to survive and to succeed in the fiercely international market place.
"We take note of the fact that a small percentage of those who received the assistance did not actually sit the examinations, and we are, in fact, disappointed about that," said Professor Ying.
He continued: "We therefore, encourage the recipients this year to demonstrate greater accountability and appreciation for the help that is being offered and use this as a motivating force to improve the level of performance in the CXC examinations."
PERFORMACE SHOULD IMPROVE
Professor Ying continued: "The sponsorship for examination fees should encourage both parents and students to use the funds that they would normally use to pay the examinations fees to work with the school in their programmes to improve the work of the school and the performance of students."
The Jamaica Education Initiative was launched by the NCB last year to help the development of local education. This included a sponsorship programme for students sitting the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exams as well as a scholarship programme for university students.
