Six STEAM Academies Planned for Belize

Francis Fonseca

We also heard from the Minister of Education on the Inter-American Development Bank’s tour of the construction site of the Itz’at STEAM Academy in Belize City. The tour was held on Wednesday, led by Prime Minister John Briceño and Minister Fonseca.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“Very exciting project of course.  The future of education is technology, arts, engineering, the STEAM and STEM subjects, critically important. Belize cannot be left behind. So, this is just the beginning in terms of these projects. Our hopes, plan and discussion with the IDB is to expand this across the country and to build six of these academies across the country so that people, wherever they live across the country, our young people can have access to STEAM education.”

Reporter

“Do you believe that STEAM, because that is where everything is at right now, that STEAM will be able to generate that critical mass to usher in a new era of education model in Belize.”

Francis Fonseca

“STEAM is critically important but ITVETs are absolutely important. We have absolutely comprehensive plans to invest in the ITVET sector that is critically important. It is one of my greatest important that the U.D.P. did not take technical vocation education seriously. They did nothing because of the nonsense of a P.U.P. project. So when I visited them these ITVET facilities, we have six of them across the country, including the Cayo CET, this was a significant investment made in 2002, 2003, they did nothing to upgrade the very same equipment that we had bought under that initial product that was there.”