79 Belizeans Benefit from O.A.S. Scholarships

Seventy-nine Belizean students were fortunate to receive scholarships from the Organization of American States General Secretariat to further their education. O.A.S. awarded scholarships to fifty-eight Master’s degree students, twelve short-term post-graduate students, five professional development students and two graduate studies students. The O.A.S. scholarship program is a competitive process with applications from over thirty countries. We sat down with Doctor Luiz Octavio Coimbra, the Representative at the Office of the General Secretariat in Belize, to talk about the organization’s vision behind these scholarship awards.

Luiz Octavio Coimbra

Luiz Octavio Coimbra, Representative, O.A.S. Belize

“Here in the office we identified in Belize that there is some need for higher education in most of the Belizeans. We also need Belizeans to stay here after getting their education. It is not only about going abroad for education but also about staying here. I was lucky when I saw that my organization was not only offering the scholarships but also some of the scholarships are online with the pandemic. Most of the schools started to work online systems. This is important. It makes it cheaper, easier, and for the Belizeans to study abroad. Of course you have the connection with professors and students. You have the feeling that you are abroad, but you are here. You are going to stay here after your graduation. I don’t think you notice, but most of the scholarships are with issues related to Belize, education, development, are the two most important scholarships that we are not only offering but Belizeans are applying to. I am happy that the Belizeans are not only applying, but receiving the scholarships, winning the scholarships. And, when we talk about seventy-nine, seventy nine is a big number for Belize. It is like seventy-nine thousand in the U.S. in Brazil it is like fifty or more thousand.  It is a big number. It is a number that if consistently we reach this number in ten years we can have a group of Belizeans ready to improve the country.”