Thalia Lyn (left), chairman of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Foundation, presents a CSEC bursary NCB Foundation cheque for $9.5 million to Sharon Burnett (right), deputy director of the Overseas Examination Commission, during a cheque handover ceremony held recently at Ardenne High School in St Andrew. Sharing in the occasion are (from left) Nadeen Matthews, NCB’s senior assistant general manager – strategy, marketing and communications; Ardenne High School students, Jordan McGrowder, Kerri-Ann Redwood, Keanu Daley and Ketanaya Stewart; and Nadine M0lloy, principal of Ardenne. Ardenne was chosen to represent the more than 100 schools that will benefit from the foundation’s payment of examination fees for principles of business and principles of accounts as the school had the second-highest number of student entries of 138 while Hampton High School in St Elizabeth entered 142 students. – Contributed
How to Apply – CSEC Bursary and Scholarships
CSEC bursary and scholarships are awarded annually by the team at the NCB Foundation, which is based in Kingston. Since the start of the programme in 2003, the N.C.B. Foundation has spent over $141,000,000 million for 100,489 student entries.
The programme works in partnership with the Ministry of Education subsidy and therefore, helps to ensure that all students to have the opportunity to meet the minimum subject requirement for admission into tertiary level institutions.
At present, the Ministry provides subsidies for four subjects, the support from the N.C.B. Foundation enables qualifying students island wide to sit an additional two subjects free of cost. Consequently, students are granted the opportunity to sit a total of at least six subjects at no cost to them and to qualify for University.
In an effort to ensure quality and control, the following criteria remains a part of the programme:
- Acceptable School Sit Rate – School’s percentage of students sitting the last two years MUST be 90% or higher.
- Students’ Performance – Individual academic performance of students being submitted for funding must average 70% or higher in each subject
All secondary schools that meet the above-mentioned criteria are deemed eligible for the programme.
We have made changes to the application process and now have all applications completed through an online link that will be provided below.
CSEC Bursary Application Process
It is recommended that school representatives have the requisite information on hand ahead of beginning the application:
1. School name, address, email address, contact number and contact person(s)
2. Information on EACH student being put forward for the scholarship as outlined below:
- First and last names
- Telephone numbers
- Email addresses
- Last grade average for each subject (ONLY persons with averages 70% and over should be entered for each subject)
In addition to changes to the application process, the N.C.B. Foundation has added two components to capture awareness and student responses. Schools will now be required to do the following in respect to these two areas:
Awareness
- Each school is to ensure that students and parents are made fully aware of the fact that the sponsorship of the two subjects come entirely from NCB Foundation. This can be done via PTA as well as noted on examination information being shared with all students.
- The online form requires confirmation of this and an outline of how this is achieved.
Student Responses
- Schools must encourage all students benefiting from the subsidy to take an online survey that will be created for them for completion by March 30, 2017
- At least 80% of the benefiting students must complete the survey
To confirm if your school was eligible to benefit from our POA/POB National and CSEC Bursary this year, please consult the list of qualified schools below:
pdf NCB CSEC POA/POB National Bursary 2016/17 – List of Qualifying Schools (255 KB)
If your school’s name is not listed, then, one of the following condition applies:
- Your school is a new school, that is, the candidates are sitting CSEC POA and/or POB for the first time. Please note that ALL new schools automatically qualify for the subsidy.
- Your school does not have 2 years’ history sitting CSEC POA and/or POB. Please note that schools which sat POA and/or POB for the first time last year must have a minimum sit rate of 90% to qualify.
- Your school’s sit rate in both subjects is below 90% as the primary criterion for the CSEC bursary is a minimum sit rate of 90% over the past 2 years, failing which, the school does not qualify.
Please note that:
- ONLY qualified schools and students will receive the benefit.
- All schools will receive their confirmation letters via email by November 21 annually. Once the letters are received, you can take your full submission to the Overseas Examination Commission (OEC).
Please DO NOT submit any printed applications to our NCB offices; these applications will NOT be accepted.
Please CLICK on the online portal below to submit your application:
NCB CSEC POA/POB National Bursary – Application Form
Application period will close on November 13, 2017 at midnight!
