PATH beneficiaries get funding for five CSEC subjects
THE GOVERNMENT plans to spend $450 million this year to subsidise five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects for students on the Programme for Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), and wards of the State, as well as another four designated subjects for other students at the secondary level.
Education Minister Ruel Reid yesterday urged schools to register all students in the grade 11 cohort for the examinations.
Students taking the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and the Caribbean Vocational Qualification, the National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica, and City and Guilds examinations are also to benefit from government subsidy. In the case of CAPE, the Government will fund part of the cost of three of the examinations.
SUBSIDISED SUBJECTS
The four CSEC subjects for which subsidy will be provided are English language, mathematics, information technology, and a science subject.
Reid said students currently registered with the PATH and wards of the State would have the benefit of subsidy of a fifth subject.
However, the PATH students will only realise this benefit if they have an average of 55 per cent in their school exams.
Starting this year, the education ministry will also provide full payment for registration and examination fees for students sitting the City and Guilds mathematics and English language examinations at Stage Two and Three.
Reid told journalists that the Jamaica Public Service, through its foundation, has committed to pay the CSEC examination fees for students studying electrical and electronic technology subjects. Schools will qualify for the benefit if they have had a pass rate of 60 per cent or more over the past two academic years.
“For new-entry schools, they must have an overall CSEC exam sit rate of 90 per cent over the past two years,” Reid said.
At the same time, the National Commercial Bank Foundation will continue to provide funding support for students sitting business subjects in principles of accounts and principles of business. The qualifying grade is 70 per cent.