Positive prevention is theme for Lions Quest workshop
“Positive Prevention”: it’s a welcomed term in the midst of the heinous murders and crimes reported daily on this newscast. It is also one of the main missions of the Lion’s Quest Program. And throughout this week teachers from across the country will be attending a training workshop in Belize City to equip themselves with the expertise required to transfer the much needed life skills to Belizean children and adolescents. News Five was on hand today for the conclusion of the first teacher training for this week.
Robert Lopez, Lions Club Belize
“It’s a comprehensive programme because it starts at infant division to the middle division and then into the high school. So it’s skills for growing, skills for adolescents, skills for action. This year again we’re training, we’re having two workshops; basically about thirty-six participants in each workshop. So there are two workshops. Teachers come in from the schools that we’re presently in. financing: the programme has been financed from its inception by a grant from Lions International Foundation and a matching grant from the O.A.S., also with funds from the local Lions Clubs and of course, a lot of logistical and a lot of help from the ministry in putting this together and also implementing it in the schools. Basically, what has happened with the first ten schools that we started with, we built as close to those schools as possible as we expanded so that they can create sister schools and sister partners so that they can lend support to each other because there’s a lot of networking that needs to take place so that it is successful”
Beverly Fisher, Master Trainer, Lion’s Quest Program
““For the past two days we have been training the teachers to take the programme into the schools. We have been looking at ways to intentionally create a relationship centered environment and learning community with their kids. Everything from how to create ground rules, which we call agreement to making sure that they’re learning thins like decision making skills, communication skills, resistance and refusal skills, and setting goals for the future. I wanna add that I have seen some of the best teachers I’ve seen around the world. I’ve done this in over twenty countries. You have excellent teachers, excellent support and the Lions Club members have really given it their all. So it does take a village to raise children and you all are doing it very, very well”
Randolph Cain, Petters Research Institute, Participant
“It has been really great. I’m really proud of the efforts that Lions club has been making as it partners with the educational efforts in Belize. What I see is really an enrichment and an elevation of what’s possible in Belize using the vehicle of education. And so the last two days we have been in training specific to life skills to be utilized by students across the board from infant two clear up to standard six and it’s really positive. A few minutes ago we were on the issue of how to impact the crime rate—impact crime—in Belize in a way that would cause people to feel safer and stuff like that and I’m really positive about that. I’m really positive about us making a difference and empowering the teachers to empower students throughout all the schools to making a difference in Belize.”
The Ministry of Education allowed the piloting of the programme four years ago in ten schools and after its success in the first year it was approved as the life skills curriculum for the health and family life education programme and has now been expanded to all schools.
