P.U.P. Launches Plan Belize Policy on Education
Schools remain closed across the country as a containment measure to COVID-19. But today, the People’s United Party rolled out its education policy, promising access and quality education from preschool to university. The P.U.P. proposes to cut bureaucracy and invest more on students and educators. The document was introduced by former Minister of Education, Francis Fonseca during a virtual presentation. News Five’s Hipolito Novelo has the following report.
Hipolito Novelo, Reporting
The People’s United Party today launched its Plan Belize policy on education.
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Former Minister of Education
“Access, Equity and Quality are central to our Education Agenda from pre-school to university. All our people wherever they live and whatever their ethnicity, religious preference, political affiliation, gender or economic status must have access to quality education.”
The P.U.P.’s education policy will focus on key areas such as education financing reform, early childhood education and development, teacher training, higher education and special education.
Francis Fonseca
“A P.U.P. administration will be student centered and focus on student learning outcomes not on administrative control or teacher licenses. Administration of education must be more efficient. Our goal is to reduce administrative costs and expenses from its current twelve percent of the education budget to five percent. This will yield savings of some twenty million dollars annually. Next, while we have five thousand seven hundred teachers, we have almost one thousand two hundred non-teachers employed at the M.O.E. At present, this means that seventeen percent of the education workforce are not educators. We need less bureaucracy and our goal is to reduce the non-educator workforce to ten percent of the total education workforce which will yield annual savings of twenty million dollars.”
Former P.U.P. Education Minister Francis Fonseca says that with an available one hundred million dollars annually from savings and revenue the P.U.P. will be able to fully finance its Plan of Action for 2020 to 2025. The monies will be used for free Education from Pre-School to sixth Form, universal Pre-School Education, establishment a teacher and learning institute, one hundred percent trained teachers, fair access of five million dollars education loan fund, national healthy start feeding program and twenty percent teacher salary increase.
Francis Fonseca
“The goal of a P.U.P. Government in Education is to efficiently allocate the necessary resources with appropriate incentive mechanisms to align and streamline the roles and objectives of all the key stakeholders-students, teachers, parents, management, communities and Government- with a view to not only deliver quality education but also enhance overall student learning using measurable results not only in increased enrollment but more importantly in clear, improved student learning outcomes.”
Opposition Leader John Briceño says that making education work for Belize is key for a P.U.P. government.
John Briceño
John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader
“Education is about the present but more so it is about looking ahead. It is about the future. Every day we educate each other. Every hour we learn. Our education system will educate us for sure but what we are seeking is much more. We want to build a culture of learning that will change us so we can go out so we can change our families, communities, and yes change this nation.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Hipolito Novelo.
