New classrooms for Excelsior

The demand for education of all kinds continues unabated in Belize and as quickly as new classrooms are built they are soon filled with students. Today that process was repeated in Belize City as one southside high school acquired some badly needed space. Ann-Marie reports.

Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting

The song may not be familiar to most Belizeans, but if you’re a student of Excelsior High it resonate mightily as the school song. Today will go down in Excelsior’s history as the day the school received six classrooms, one staff room, a principal’s office, science lab and toilet. All these pre-fabricated structures are fully furnished and imported from Spain.

Education Minister Cordel Hyde says the southside high school has come a long way.

Cordel Hyde, Minister of Education

“I think the principal, the board, the teachers, you the students seems to have taken on the challenge. The teachers seem a lot more comfortable and the students, although you’re hot right now, seem a lot more satisfied; I’m happy about that. But we still have a long way to go, because schooling should be more than just about learning to read and write and about mathematics and science and English language. It really should be about learning to do drama, to sing, to play basketball, to do sports, to have newspaper clubs, photography clubs, to enjoy everything about life. To prepare you fully for life so that when you leave this place you can be very productive and continue to be creative.”

And often times it’s difficult to be creative when students are in cramped classrooms.

Gayle Thompson, Principal, Excelsior High School

“For too long we have had to endure a crowded situation. Often this situation has led to conflicts, when students feel that their space was being invaded, when they were not comfortable. The new classrooms lend themselves to a different atmosphere. Students are now in an environment, which is very conducive to learning, an environment of which the students are very proud, I must say.”

And perhaps their proudest moment came when Area Representative Dolores Balderamos Garcia contributed three computers and printers to their new lab. Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.

Price tag for the expansion was around five hundred thousand Belize dollars.