Re-recruiting High School Dropouts on South Side Belize City

Francis Fonseca

The number of secondary school students that will not be returning at the start of the new academic year is alarming, particularly on the south side of Belize City where the dropout rate has been rather high.  Since the beginning of the week, several meetings have been held with teachers and principals at high schools, including Maud Williams and Sadie Vernon, in effort to recruit students who have chosen to remain permanently absent from their classrooms.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“The Chief Education Officer and I visited with certain schools last week on the south side of Belize City and they are actively going into the communities trying to find these students, meeting with their families.  Maude Williams High School, they’re doing it at Excelsior, Gwen Lizarraga and Sadie Vernon High School.  The principals and the administrative teams understand the critical importance of this issue, as you’ve pointed out and they are actively going into the communities trying to engage with residents and families and to impress upon them the critical importance of having these students return to the classrooms.”