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UWI, NCB Foundation partner to boost STEM teachers

Published:Friday | August 19, 2022 | 12:07 AM
From left: Professor Michael Taylor, dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, UWI Mona; Dr Sharon Bramwell-Lalor, lecturer, School of Education, UWI Mona; and Elecia Myers, resource mobilisation coordinator, Faculty of Science and Technology, UWI Mona, ove
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From left: Professor Michael Taylor, dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, UWI Mona; Dr Sharon Bramwell-Lalor, lecturer, School of Education, UWI Mona; and Elecia Myers, resource mobilisation coordinator, Faculty of Science and Technology, UWI Mona, oversee the signing of the BOOST Scholarship partnership by Professor Ian Boxill, deputy principal, UWI Mona, and Nadeen Matthews Blair, CEO, NCB Foundation.

THE UNIVERSITY of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, has signed an agreement with the National Commercial Bank Foundation (NCBF) to increase the number of STEM teachers in Jamaica focused on digital studies via the Build Out Our Stem Teachers (BOOST) Programme.

The agreement was signed on July 28 in the Principal’s Conference Room at The UWI Mona campus.

BOOST is a “back-end incentivised scholarship scheme” developed to respond to the urgent need for more quality STEM teachers in Jamaica’s classrooms. This urgent need was highlighted by the 2017-2018 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, which ranked Jamaica at 73rd out of 137 countries in terms of the quality of science and math education.

With the need for a mechanism to replace STEM teachers being the subject of recent public discourse, the partnership between the NCBF and The UWI Mona is regarded as an important and timely intervention.

Spearheading the programme is a team led by the dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Professor Michael Taylor, who stated that the partnership is a demonstration of much-needed collaboration among a multiplicity of stakeholders.

“This partnership will strengthen the bond between both institutions and prove to be beneficial to Jamaica,” said The UWI Mona deputy principal, Professor Ian Boxill, said at the signing event.

Nadeen Matthews-Blair, CEO of the NCBF, said the BOOST programme is expected to assist with the development of the digital talent pipeline in Jamaica as a part of accelerating the country’s digital transformation.

Additionally, she said the BOOST programme will create a platform for NCBF scholars to give back.

editorial@gleanerjm.com