The JPS, through its foundation, has entered into a five-year partnership with The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, to fund the staging of the school's CAPE workshops over the period. The UWI Mona campus has been hosting a series of CAPE workshops since 2003 to increase students' interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects and improve their performance in these areas. Both institutions formalised this partnership with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the JPS's New Kingston head office on Thursday. President and CEO of JPS Steve Berberich said the initiative is aligned with one of the key areas of focus of the JPS Foundation - science and technology education - and enhances the foundation's efforts to support students pursuing STEM at the secondary and tertiary levels. "The country of Jamaica has enormous potential, and I believe the world is at a major inflection point now where we can invigorate young minds to participate in this inflection, and the inflection I'm talking about is this dramatic change in the way we power energy, the way we use energy, and the way we decarbonise our entire system. STEM education is going to be critical for this great country to stay abreast and to develop its economy and create great jobs for its people," he said. "JPS and its foundation believe this is core to development. So we're happy to support this initiative to help…to prepare students for the CAPE exam and to make sure that we can further [build on our] outreach [in the STEM area]," he said.

Photo caption: There are smiles all around as president and chief executive officer of Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) Steve Berberich (second right) and deputy principal, The UWI, Mona, Dr Tomlin Paul (second left), exchange signed copies of an memorandum of understanding which will see the JPS Foundation providing $16 million in support to the university for the staging of Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations workshops over the next five years. Also pictured (from left) are: director, JPS Foundation, Winsome Callum (left); and JPS Chief Operating Officer Gary Barrow. (Photo: Garfield Robinson).

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