Ministry of Education Plans for ‘Open School’
Carol Babb
Today, the Ministry of Education and the Commonwealth Of Learning launched a policy management open school workshop. The purpose of the three-day session is to enable administrators and managers to better understand the opportunities available in open learning. So what is open schooling? It is defined by the Commonwealth of Learning as the physical separation of a school level learner from the teacher and the use of unconventional teaching methodologies and information and gadgets to bridge the separation, while providing the education and training. The initiative targets the out of school population, specifically adults and youth, through unconventional teaching and learning methodologies.
Dr. Carol Babb, Chief Education Officer
“As educators in Belize, we are aware of our sector strategy goals. And one of the sector strategy goals is to increase access and we are able to provide more educational opportunities to adults and youths who are unable to access the regular classrooms for various reason. Another goal of the sector strategy is improving quality and with your valuable support, we are training teachers to use e-learning methodologies that will help to improve the teaching/learning process. The aim of the Ministry of Education is to provide quality education for all and this is especially meaningful for adults who for varied reasons—maybe they are mothers and they have to work and they can’t come to regular classes, or maybe they can’t even attend an ACE program, Doctor Samuels, in the night time—but with open schooling there are many opportunities that are available. I also think it is a wonderful opportunity for technical and vocational education because with open schooling, we can increase the number of students who can access technical and vocational education. they can do the theoretical using the Actus or any other gadget and what I read, open schooling also gives the students an opportunity where they can meet in a group and discuss other issues and problems that they are facing.”
