The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, through the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB), will be providing 2,250 scholarships to boost the country’s capacity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) over the next five years.
On Thursday (June 29), the STEM Scholarship Programme will be launched, through which full tuition scholarships will be granted to some 1,250 new student-teachers at The Mico University College.
The programme, which was born out of a partnership between the SLB and The Mico, was first announced by Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, during his budget debate presentation in March.
Minister Clarke said the Government believes Jamaica’s workforce must increase its level of STEM attainment to ensure that the nation is globally competitive.
“We must fill the maths and science teaching and learning gaps in schools at all levels and systematically build out capacities to accommodate the transition to full STEM integration. This will power the new schools that will be constructed and, in addition, generate sufficient resources to expand STEM competencies across a wider range of schools,” he noted.
He indicated that with the Government providing opportunities in the field, there is expected to be an uptick in the number of STEM enrolments at the tertiary level.
“A recent project with the Ministry of Education and Youth shows that teacher training intake in the STEM area would increase by over 100 per cent if scholarships and other incentives are offered. We must move to prepare ourselves through the deliberate and urgent supply of well-trained teachers with the skills and values to drive STEM implementation across all schools,” Minister Clarke said.
The launch of the STEM Scholarship Programme for student-teachers will begin at 10:00 a.m., and will be live streamed on the Ministry’s Facebook and YouTube pages as well as the JIS website.
Another aspect of the programme, for students at the University of Technology (UTech), will be launched on July 6.
Through the SLB, a total of 1,000 scholarships will be provided more than five years at a cost of $2.4 billion, to benefit students from low-income households.
