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School Kids 

Education


Belize's strategy for social development in the 1980s focused on increasing investments in formal education. On the surface, the achievements have been impressive; opportunities for all levels of schooling have greatly increased in the last thirty years.

Left side, School Kids in there uniform





Primary schools throughout Belize are usually privately owned and supported by 80% of the costs supplied by the education department budget. Most schools, but not all, are owned by one religious cult, or another. Indoctrination of students is considered basic for various religious cults. We have many religious varieties in Belize.

PSE and Education

On the PSE Exam for primary school graduation, mathematics was the most difficult subject. Most primary schools do not have qualified teachers. Over 80% of Belizean children attending primary schools do not even finish the Standard 6, or Grade 8 level. They quit a lot earlier than that and are pretty much lost to the development of Belize. The majority of primary school teachers are not real teachers and are not qualified by any standard of measurement. You use who is available to teach in remote rural communities and villages. Children often teach children. Good exam marks depend a lot on a trained enthusiastic teacher, along with very supportive parents. Most primary schools in rural parts do not have these things. Schools are usually overcrowded. 70% of students actually taking the PSE exam actually fail. The grades are usually D and lower. While primary school education in Belize is very bad. Compared to countries like Honduras and Nicaragua, our school system is ranked very good in comparison. Everything is relative. Some schooling is better than no schooling. We do what we can with what we have in Belize!

Statistically speaking, 43% of teachers at primary school level in Belize have an Associate Degree but no actual teacher training. Even at High School level, only 31% of teachers are actually qualified by any teacher training standard.

Recommendations in San Pedro

In San Pedro we can recommend all private and public school's, except St. Peters Elementary and Ambergris Caye Elementary School ACES.  One failed on the PSE results; from nine students only one passed with 51.25%, the other School we experienced on our own has big management and ethical issues.

The School with the best track record year over year, is the public San Pedro R.C. School. Again in 2009 the San Pedro R.C. School had the best PSE results.

Education Week

The Ministry of Education and Belize National Teaches Union commemorated Education Week during the period 10th to 16th May, 2009.  During that week they celebrated the contributions of teachers to the development of Belize under the Theme: “Better Schools, Better Citizens, Better Belize whatever it takes: It’s everybody’s business”.

The main address was given by Education Minister Hon. Patrick Faber who opened by congratulating the teachers, saying “the work that you do is so very important and for this we are most grateful.”  But along with that gratitude came a dose of reality that changed the tone in the Jaguar Gymnasium as the Hon. Faber said that in his eighteen months in office he has visited, “schools like Georgetown High School in the south where children sit under a thatch roof structure with no walls for a classroom…in Toledo where children come to school without shoes...I have seen overcrowded classrooms…I have seen children whose meal for the day at school is one or two corn tortillas and salt.”

He used Friday's captive audience of five thousand teachers to announce some bold new initiatives by government to address the inequities and inadequacies within the system.  Chief among those is teacher training.  According to Faber, 43% of primary school teachers have the minimum of an Associates Degree and a shocking only 31% of secondary school teachers are trained to teach at that level.  That is why government and the Ministry of Education will embark on an ambitious plan to train 350 teachers during the summer. 

Teachers Day

On Friday, 12th June, 2009 which is set aside as “Teachers’ Day”, The Ministry of Education with the assistance of BELTRAIDE is having an “Education Mini Expo”, on the Football Field at the University of Belize Campus in Belmopan City.

The program will target teachers who have Associate Degrees in subjects other than education equipping them with pedagogical skills.  Government will pay for the training which will be available at all campuses of the University of Belize and other tertiary level institutions.  The teachers will receive a certificate in primary education which will be key in the advent of the National Teaching Services Commission, which will remove the hiring and firing of teachers from the hands of politicians and place it under the National Teaching Services Commission which will be independent from the Ministry of Education.

To ensure that teachers get an opportunity to be trained, Faber also announced that with infusion of $20 million from the CDB to revive the DFC, student loans will now be available and teachers will be able to access loans from the DFC to receive the necessary training required to remain in the classrooms.  He warned teachers that, “failure to take advantage now could have consequences for your licensing down the road.”

Recommended Link

Teachers for a Bette  Belize is a partnership of professional educators from North America and Belize. TFABB aids Toledo's preschool and primary-school teachers and principals with the training, supplies, and facilities required to help their students achieve academic success and thereby escape poverty.  Teachers for a Bette  Belize TFABB.ORG

 
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