Powering more than homes

Jamaica Public Service is putting J$22 million behind the new school year, extending its support beyond electricity services to students, parents and schools across the island.

The company’s assistance includes scholarships and grants through the JPS Foundation, book vouchers, school supplies, community back-to-school fairs and rebuilding work. The effort reaches areas such as St Elizabeth and Westmoreland, which are still recovering from Hurricane Melissa.

At Parrottee Primary School, Dr Debbie Ann McLean Bernard, an educational social worker with the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth & Information for Region 5, led a psychosocial session on the move from primary to secondary school. The session came before a JPS donation of school supplies and book vouchers for families preparing for the academic year.

JPS also supported a back-to-school event at the Strathmore Gardens Children’s Home. The program included a day at the zoo and the distribution of school supplies, with support from the JPS Foundation and Fontana. At the St Catherine South East Back-To-School Health Fair in Portmore, the company provided book vouchers and supplies to families.

In Westmoreland, JPS and the Hermit Foundation marked the handover of a temporary principal’s office at Darliston Primary School. The office was converted from a container previously used as part of JPS’s Emergency Mobile Power Generation Unit while repairs continue after hurricane damage.