Former students of WCA without school for September

The village of Ontario is without a high school as Belize Faith Mission says it no longer has the funds to sustain the privately run institution. The teachers, parents and administration protested at the firing of the principal and the announcement that the doors would have been closed before graduation. The students who have been promoted into second, third and fourth forms no longer have a high school and their future remains uncertain. News Five’s Jose Sanchez, on Tuesday, asked Minister of Education Patrick Faber what lies ahead for the youths from the area.

Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
“Those who were managing the school before the owners came, are now applying for a license to operate a school. And we’re trying to decide in the Ministry of Education whether that is the best option for those students who are currently enrolled in the school. Of course, we’re studying many other things; whether or not these students may be fit into the existing system either in Belmopan or in Cayo. That’s one of the things we’re looking at. We’re also looking at whether or not there is the need and whether or not it is feasible given the resources that these people can muster for the school to get a license to operate. What we would want to avoid is a situation where the funding dries up again and then the school cannot continue. As you know, it is not a government aided school, it is a private school. Another option is to look at it to become a government aided school. So there are different ideas that are being looked at right now and we hope to come up with a decision soon. It’s not a new lesson to the ministry but I hope that people are understanding what the ministry goes through. Sometimes there are people who come in and they seek a license from the ministry claiming that they will not need the financial support from the ministry and the government and later on they run into some problem. And they put the ministry in a tough predicament because we will not want to close the school so we will have to try to find the resources even those resources were not budgeted for.”

Word late this evening from Marlon Robinson, a teacher at the Western Christian Academy, is that none of the eleven teachers have been paid for the month of June. There is a dispute over who should pay the salaries; Belize Faith Missions or Western Christian Academy.