New classrooms dedicated in Belize City
Education is in the news again and it’s not for a hurricane shortened semester, or new rules to licence teachers. Today’s item involves the construction of badly needed classrooms. I was on hand in the Fort George division for an official dedication.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
There were simply not enough classrooms at the old Queen Street Baptist School. Now with the addition of six new rooms, both staff and students will no longer feel cramped and look forward to including more educational activities.
Ingrid Hepburn, Principal, Queen Street Baptist School
“Right now we are located below the church in the wooden building. If you look over there you?ll see that the classrooms are very small, they don?t even have enough space to move around.?
Jacqueline Woods
?How difficult was that situation??
Ingrid Hepburn
?Very difficult, because you couldn?t have corners, special activity corners for the children to work. I’ve been looking forward this for some years because actually the first floor was completed…this December will make nine years. It was worthwhile waiting for.”
Pastor Lloyd Stanford, manager of Baptist schools says the additional building is the result of submissions they made to the Ministry of Education, Prime Minister Said Musa and the Basic Needs Trust Fund.
Pastor Lloyd Stanford, Manager, Baptist Schools
“Actually we have six classrooms upstairs, but because we are now in the computer age, we are planning on getting some computers, so one of the rooms will be reserved for the computer room so actually we have five physical classrooms. We still use part of the old structure as one or two classrooms right now.”
Present at the dedication ceremony was Minister of Education, Cordel Hyde. Hyde says since coming to office over two years ago, his ministry has made great strides in strengthening the education system in Belize. He recently held a meeting with the Council of Churches to see how they can work together with government to improve education.
Cordel Hyde, Minister of Education
“Those are the persons who we would like to say own the schools in this unique church/state partnership we have. We?ve done a lot in increase in access both at primary and at the secondary level. In fact over the last two years we?ve actually added fifteen hundred additional high school spaces. We?ve done a lot to improve the number of teachers who are being trained. We?ve established the new University of Belize. We?ve maintained as a responsible ministry a very solid relationship with all the stakeholders in education from the general managers to the principals to the unions, to the parents to the students.?
?I think that at the end of the day though, we need to focus a bit more on trying to improve quality. But that?s not an overnight process, I think over the last few years we?ve done a lot of good things. We?ve gotten the education rules signed. That had been in limbo for over sixteen years, so we?ve worked well with our stakeholders, and it?s now time for us to combine our efforts to ensure that the quality of education is the absolute best it could be. As I said, that?s not an overnight composition because it involves massive reformation of our teacher training apparatus, how it is we go about training teachers and at the end of the day the quality of teachers we produce.”
Pastor Stanford says eventually they plan to refurbish the old school building.
