Lynam officials optimistic about future
There are open days and then there are open days. Today’s open day at the Agriculture and Natural Resource Institute for southern Belize (ANRI), formerly known as Lynam, was more of an eye opener than it was an attempt to enroll students at the school. When News Five visited the agriculture school in December, students had decided to peacefully protest the conditions at the school, which included the lack of electricity, running water and transport to and from the school. Unfortunately, not much has changed physically since then but as Janelle Chanona reports; there is no shortage of optimism.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
The view from the campus of the Agriculture and Natural Resource Institute (ANRI) is indeed spectacular but…a quick glance at the school itself is another story all together. Since it was reopened in 1994, ANRI has not had a constant supply of electricity, reliable transportation, or a functioning water system. The 99 students and the staff have adapted. When they need water, students fill pigtail buckets or drums at the river. In the bathroom, they use plastic dippers to flush the toilet. Teachers carefully time their classroom activities to get as much light as possible.
Francis Marin, Principal, ANRI
“The natural light is enough…and that’s just one third.”
Hubert Logan, 4th Form Student, ANRI
“Well right now like how it’s cold, it don’t really matter. But when it’s hot, the classroom is very hot inside also and we don’t feel very comfortable in the rooms. Well when the electricity comes it will be better.”
Francis Marin
“Without electricity then there is a lot of serious limitations. Limitations on the method of delivery for the subject matter, the use of overhead projector, slide projectors and then there is more service support considerations. The refrigeration for example, the school expends a lot of fuel and energy moving perishable goods back and forth from Dangriga. Even though there was a solar unit, a very expensive solar unit, that was in place through one reason or the other mainly negligence and neglect or the lack of knowledge on the maintenance of such unit, it was allowed to break down. And now it is pretty expensive to repair or to replace that solar unit, so we are being connected to the national grid.”
Marin says about 30% of the poles needed to connect to the school to the outside world are already up. He expects that by the first week in May, there will be lights on top of the hill and, if all goes according to plan, there will also be water in pipes.
Francis Marin
“There is a water system in place, a pump is located…a very powerful pump is located next to the stream, but clearing the lines and getting the pump operational, to my knowledge that has been done once and it has not been restored since then. For some reason, it was allowed to degrade and the school now is putting a major emphasis, a major effort to restore that facility. If that facility proves too difficult to restore, the school is looking at the possibility of putting in a new water system in place. However, this water system will not provide drinking water because of sanitary considerations and the lack of a facility to purify the water to potable standards. We still transport drinking water from Dangriga to the school.”
“We are trying to update our technology and share with the students the opportunities that are available to them in the different sectors of the agricultural business, both marketing production, processing, care and maintenance. We try to give our student and agricultural bias, so hopefully they can go to the Belize College of Agriculture and get a tertiary level education in agriculture, or they can integrate into other 6th forms and go along the formal education.”
Today, the school got a much-needed vehicle, to be used in cases of emergency, courtesy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. But there is still much work to be done. When the students of ANRI arrive in the morning, they head down to the fields to work in practical programs like rearing pigs and poultry and raising crops like sweet peppers, beans and carrots. But when it comes to doing research, the students are on their own, as the school’s library is not up to scratch. Most of the books on these shelves are not even about agriculture or science. And as the fourth form students prepare for upcoming CXC exams, they make a daily afternoon trip to the Ecumenical High School to use their lab facilities as ANRI’s lab is, well, not what it should be. Marin believes that with the support of government and the community, ANRI can fulfill it’s potential.
Francis Marin
“The community presently provides a lot of support. What we as a community in this area can do for the further development of ANRI is to ensure our students, once they leave our homes, our children, our care, that once they leave our homes to come to ANRI, that they maintain a sort of respect for the infrastructure and a dedication and hard work. So that they can personally improve in their curriculum, the way they interact with their teachers and also for the community to get involve in there with their children in what they do on a daily basis here at ANRI.”
But like the trek back up to campus, turning ANRI into the prestigious college it once was, will be a steep climb. Principal Marin says he, his staff and students are willing to take the challenge.
Janelle Chanona for News Five.
The Ministry of Education will now be responsible for ANRI but the Ministry of Agriculture has also allocated resources for the continued development of the school’s farming programs.
