NCB pays exam fees in full for students

"Students island-wide who will be sitting the CXC/CSEC examinations, I implore you to make use of the opportunities being afforded. You owe this to yourselves to do your best and to deliver on your potential and on this tremendous investment being made by the National Commercial Bank."

This was the charge made by Hugh Lewis, school captain of Jamaica College (JC), in extending a vote of thanks for the National Commercial Bank's (NCB) CXC/CSEC principles of business (POB) and principles of accounts (POA) fee sponsorship.

NCB, through its strategic philanthropic arm of the NCB Foundation, continues to deliver on its mandate of nation building through the transformational power of education.

By partnering with the Ministry of Education (MOE), the focus is to advance the United Nation's 2030 Education Agenda and, in so doing, ensure students leaving high schools are able to meet the minimum requirement necessary to matriculate at a tertiary institution, with the ultimate aim of creating a knowledgeable workforce.

Over the past eight years, NCB has supported more than 66,000 students through donations of more than $67 million.

This year, more than $9.1 million will be paid to cover the fees of 4,674 students. Each year under the programme, more than 4,000 applications are paid for by the NCB Foundation for students sitting CXC/CSEC POA and POB.

Over the years, schools, students, teachers and parents have sought to make use of this programme which continues to provide financial support to high-school students across Jamaica.

Cheque presentation

Last week Monday, NCB made a cheque presentation to the Overseas Examination Council in the presence of a gathering of upper-school boys at Jamaica College (JC).

JC was chosen as a location as it boasts the most sponsored students per participating high school.

Prior to doing the official cheque handover to Hector Stephenson, director of Overseas Examinations Council (OEC), Patrick Hylton, group managing director, NCB, shared his experience from a defining life lesson where he encouraged the students by emphasising, "Never let someone's opinion of you be your reality, as you are in fact the masters of your own destiny."

Dr. Mary Campbell, assistant chief education officer at the MOE, in her remarks, endorsed NCB's focus on educational excellence and acknowledged the importance of private-public sector partnership in advancing national development.

CAPTION: Patrick Hylton (right), group managing director, NCB Jamaica Limited, speaks with Jamaica College sixth-form student Dimitri Topey (left), while his classmates, Ramon Graham (centre) and Richard Samuels look on. Hylton visited the school last Monday to present a cheque valued $9.1 million to the Overseas Examinations Commission for payment of CXC/CSEC principles of accounts and principles of business examination fees for students sitting these subjects islandwide. He also took time to give Jamaica College fifth-form students sitting these exams a motivational talk. - Contributed