E.P. Yorke High School celebrates 30 years

Yesterday, the staff and students of Edward P. Yorke High School on Princess Margaret Drive celebrated the school’s thirtieth anniversary. According to principal Allan Genitty they decided to celebrate the day by having students remain in the classroom working hard at their studies, after all it was through a lot of hard work and dedication that has brought the school this far. Genitty said there will be special activities commemorating the day in February and March.

Allan Genitty, Principal, E.P. Yorke High School

“When you look back over the past 30 years we see that the Edward P. Yorke High School, formerly Belize Junior Secondary School Number One, has achieved quite a number of things in those 30 years. We have seen significant improvement in the school moving from a three-year secondary school to a full-fledged high school.

We have seen its expansion in its curriculum, in the infrastructure at the school, in the equipment that we have on the compound in terms of a more qualified staff. We have also seen the addition of many different subject areas which are more relevant to Belize today as compared to 30 years ago. We have things on the curriculum like information technology. Back in 1969 we did not have a commercial program; today we have a commercial program.”

Q: “Where do you see Edward P. Yorke High in the next 30 years?”

Allan Genitty

“In the next 30 years perhaps I won’t be here, in fact I won’t be here at this institution but I see the school continuing to improve as we cater to the needs of more Belizeans. Definitely we need to increase on our enrollments, to the many students who are now out there, out of school. I can see that we will definitely need to expand our curriculum even more to deal with more relevant subjects and not to gear it and have it fixed to external examination which might not necessarily meet the needs of Belize.”

Genitty says the overall success of the school is mainly due to the institution’s dedicated staff, students, parents, Ministry of Education who financially assist the school. Presently there are three hundred and eighty five students enrolled at Edward P. Yorke High School. The school officially opened on January thirteenth, 1969.