Education
Education has a powerful impact on human progress and bpTT’s investment in our nation’s youth covers a range of educational initiatives – from remedial programmes, to the provision of scholarships and incentives for outstanding performance. This includes awards for the top performers (students scoring 95% and above) in the national Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examinations at the primary level, bursaries at the tertiary-level and sponsorship of technical/vocational skills training and development. Our education programme also includes collaboration on SEA instructional software.
Fighting Illiteracy
We support the Centre of Excellence in Teacher Training (CETT), a national reading programme for primary schools, but our emphasis is on improving academic achievement levels in Mayaro and Guayaguayare. BPTT is tackling illiteracy at all levels in these areas through primary and secondary schools and adult education programmes.
We are currently engaged in a joint literacy programme with the Adult Literacy Tutors' Association (ALTA) and the Mayaro Literacy Improvement Committee to raise the average levels of literacy in the community of Mayaro and Guayaguayare. We have trained tutors and offered programmes at four community sites and at both of the secondary schools in the area. One site is the BP Trinidad and Tobago-funded Mayaro Resource Centre (MRC).
MRC
The MRC is a state-of-the-art multi-purpose facility that accommodates academic, vocational and sports training along with cultural and social activities. In 2002 it was transformed from the bpTT Sports Club into a public facility and is a gift to the people of our home-base community - Mayaro.Scholarships
BPTT supports student-development with the provision of annual university bursaries and scholarships. We partner with the British High Commission and the American Embassy to award Chevening and Fulbright Scholarships respectively.
We have also implemented “Brighter Prospects,” a scholarship and award programme to provide opportunities for technical/vocational and tertiary-level training for residents of Mayaro and Guayaguayare – our rural home-base of operations. To date over 116 students have received Brighter Prospects scholarships which have enabled them to further their studies.
The University of the West Indies (UWI)
The UWI and bpTT have a long tradition of collaboration. We have contributed significantly to the development of an accredited petroleum geosciences programme at The University of the West Indies St. Augustine (The UWI). The company has made a financial commitment to the programme and also offers annual scholarships to attract the best and brightest students to build the geosciences capability in the country. Members of bpTT’s staff have lectured full semester courses, served as guest lecturers in specialised areas and also coached and mentored students during summer internships and final-year projects. Additionally, bpTT provides 10 bursaries annually at a total value of TT$100,000 to students of The UWI. These bursaries are awarded in the faculties of engineering and the social sciences.
BPTT now sponsors the MSc programme in reservoir engineering. Reservoir engineering focuses on maximizing production from mature reservoirs and gaining a better understanding of depletion and reservoir behaviours in complex subsurface formations. Beginning in 2007, bpTT will be contributing $800,000 a year towards the programme.
