Education tops balloting in children’s rights election
It was conducted with all the seriousness of a general election. And while these ballots took a little longer to count, the results of last Thursday’s UNICEF sponsored voting on children’s rights were no less important. Patrick Jones was on hand at the Radisson for the announcement.
Marleni Cuellar, UNICEF Children’s Advisory Committee
“We the children of Belize having participated in the first children’s elections based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, raised our voices and cast our ballots on the twenty eight day of May, 1998 in the country of Belize to express our concerns and to inform the nation of issues that are most important to us.”
There were nine rights on the ballot paper and after the forty one thousand five hundred and sixty seven votes in the countrywide referendum were counted, the right to an education and a safe environment emerged as the top vote getters. And those who labored to move the project from the drawing board to reality, couldn’t have been more satisfied.
Jose Teixeira, Children’s Advisory Committee
“Well I believe that it was a great success that we have reached many children of Belize. We believe that this is a very good result and we are satisfied with our work.”
Tanya Cadle Velasquez, C.A.C., Corozal
“Well, I think it was very successful because, not many children in the Corozal District can afford to go to school and I don’t think there are many teachers there either. So the results that we got, I am satisfied with.”
Manuel Ash, C.A.C., Toledo
“Well I’m really happy with the outcome because then, we didn’t expect a lot of children like from the Youth Hostel to come out and vote. We expected like twenty or less children to vote but it turns out to be like thirty to forty children coming out to vote.”
A summary of the results indicate that an overwhelming number of voters in last Thursday’s elections saw education as the most important issue for them, while only fifteen hundred thought eating nutritious food and receiving proper medical care were the most important. Operations Manager for UNICEF, Sandra Hall, says the results prove that there is a lot of work left to be done and that although the majority of those who voted were already within the school system, their votes carried a two fold message.
Sandra Hall, Operations Manager, UNICEF
“From our own observation when we were going from school to school on the election day, we realize that children see education as an important issue. And while they are in school, I think they were re-enforcing the importance of education, not only at the primary level, but the opportunity to continue their education. But I also got another angle from some comments that children were cognizant of the fact that they had their peers out there who were not in school and I think they were voting on their behalf.”
Eleven hundred and eighty one “out-of-school” children stopped in at polling stations countrywide to register their opinions on the issue they considered most important. The results of the elections, have been converted into a contract between the nation’s political leaders and the children; a contract signed at this morning’s public presentation at the Radisson Hotel.
Faith Babb, Minister of Youth
“Looking at the fact that my leader, the Prime Minister, in our manifesto said that we were going to give free tuition, and that is a perfect fulfillment of our manifesto commitment. What we are looking at, because we don’t have control over the schools and the boards and so forth, that would set the prices for different special fees, and so on I know that through the Ministry of Education and through our ministry we have been assisting a number of young people, children, in providing that extra funds to assist them with these additional fees.”
Said Musa, Leader, P.U.P.
“It cannot be right when today forty six out of every one hundred children do not complete primary education. It cannot be right when instead of receiving free education as they were promised, hundreds of deserving young people are denied access to any secondary education and those that do attend are burdened with many new fees and costs of expensive textbooks.
Our party, the People’s Untied Party is prepared without hesitation to commit ourselves to ensure that action was taken to define policies and to implement programs to address the issues raised by our children, if and when we are successful in forming the next government.”
And while the children left the Radisson this morning feeling proud, it was not without some disappointment at the absence of the Prime Minister.
Jose Teixeira
“I was a bit disappointed and I was glad that Said Musa could come and Mr. Estevan Perera.”
Tanya Cadle Velasquez
“I am very disappointed and I am glad that Mr. Said Musa and Mr. Estevan Perera were here because if the Prime Minister was here I would have been more satisfied because he was on the contract to be here.”
Faith Babb
“I believe that the Prime Minister thought it important enough to send a ministerial representative, myself, and I am certain that if he was able to be here, he would have been here.”
Q: “Isn’t that like a disrespect for the children?”
Faith Babb
“It can never be a disrespect. We are working towards the betterment of our children. As I said my government is children’s first and foremost. We worked with UNICEF in an atmosphere of honesty, commitment and sincerity and you can see what has been realized in that partnership.”
Patrick Jones, for News Five.
While most of the nation’s children voted the right to an education as the most important issue, it is interesting to note that those in Corozal, Orange Walk, and Belize City found the right to a safe environment to be the most critical. Figures released by UNICEF indicate that roughly eighty percent of Belizean children participated in the elections.
