No Fees for Some High Schools This Fiscal Year

Cordel Hyde

On bright spot today was the revelation that the Ministry of Education is rolling out its free education program in several Belize City high schools. The Deputy Prime Minister today announced that Maude Williams, Sadie Vernon, and Gwen Lizarraga are among the institutions that will benefit from the program’s initial phase.

Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister

“We will be providing free education at Maude Williams, Sadie Vernon and Gwen Liz in this year’s budget. It says it here, because we understand that the greatest antidote to crime and violence is an education, not more money for the police, more money to make sure every child gets an opportunity to go to school. You have billions of dollars that were spent. Two thousand children were dropping out of school yearly, out of standard Five, and out of standard six and first form and second form primarily. You know why? Because the kids and their parents can’t afford to pay the fees. So we were spending billions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars on road contracts, but we couldn’t find a lee million dollars, a one point something million dollars. Now we wonder why crime is through the roof. It will always be through the roof, until we ensure that every single child, red or blue, because the kid that stay in school is not going to get caught up with the gangs.”