New Digital Focus extends to all NCB Foundation flagship programmes

The recent announcement about the immediate shift in NCB Foundation’s National CSEC Bursary Programme has been revised after discussions with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

Due to schools having already made submissions for qualifying students in the areas of Principles of Business (POB) and Principles of Accounts (POA), the Foundation has opted to, instead, institute the full revision of the CSEC programme in the new academic year.

This new revision will see the programme instead supporting students studying Information Technology (IT) and Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPM), the two available subject areas at the CSEC level that support the push to digital, in the academic year 2022-23. 

EDUCATION MINISTRY PROVIDES FULL SUPPORT TO QUALIFYING STUDENTS FOR IT, EDPM

In order to facilitate a smooth transition, NCB Foundation said it has agreed to extend this year’s subsidy to POA and POB only and will confirm its digital subject areas for next academic year in a timely manner to all key stakeholders.

As a result, the 2021-22 subsidy will only be extended to qualified students enrolled at qualifying schools pursuing studies in only the two business subject areas.

The education ministry will commit to the full support of qualifying students sitting the impending IT and EDPM examinations.

“We will accept submissions from the qualifying schools for the two business subject areas commencing Monday, December 6 to Sunday, December 12 via website www.myncb.com/CSEC,” the ministry said.

The complete list of qualifying schools is also available via the website. 

The education ministry said it was pleased that NCB continues to support students in their CSEC bursary.

According to the ministry, the transition to focus on those students studying IT and EDPM recognises the importance of the digital future and the need for students to be adequately prepared. 

“Encouraging Information Technology as a career pathway for our students will ensure that Jamaica’s transition to being a digital society brings the targeted economic and social transformation. I welcome the much-needed support from NCB for our students,” said Fayval Williams, minister of education, youth and information.

SHIFT TO DIGITAL

The year 2020 into 2021 saw a holistic shift to digital across all of the Foundation’s flagship programmes from the primary to tertiary level, which will continue into 2022 and thereafter.

This shift has taken place in phases.

So far, at the primary level, the Foundation has partnered with the education minister and the Amber Group to conduct the pilot of the ‘Coding in Schools’ Project which has now been formalised to rollout from Grades 1-13.

At the secondary level, the National CSEC Bursary Programme will be revised to exclusively support digital subject areas commencing in the 2022-23 academic year, and at the tertiary level, the Scholarship & Grant Programme has been revised as well to only support students enrolled in local accredited institutions pursuing undergraduate degrees in digital career fields.

This holistic shift to digital is a testament to the Foundation’s commitment to empowering youth through education while adapting to and playing their role in Jamaica’s digital transformation.