Canadian Rotarians make the rounds in Belize

The education system in Belize has come under serious scrutiny by people who think that it has not been nearly as effective as it ought to be.  The dropout rate is high, particularly for boys, teachers lack training, and a high number of students do not complete high school. And while there is always a core group that will excel no matter what, students’ performances at exams can be greatly improved. One Rotary Club in Alberta, Canada saw the need a few years ago to intervene and to offer assistance where possible.  This week, a representative from the Red Deer Catholic Regional School Division in that country spoke to Canadian Rotarians about the local project.  Associate Superintendent of Learning Services, Lynne Paradis, encouraged Rotarians to volunteer to help enhance the local education system, and to raise money for other projects in Belize. Local Rotarian with the San Ignacio branch, Andre Lopez, told News Five that the two groups have joined hands to help not only the San Ignacio community, but also other areas.  This came through a handsome grant from their foreign counterpart and an area of focus is teacher training.

Voice of: Andre Lopez, Rotarian, San Ignacio branch

“Many of the primary school teachers do not have the necessary skills to teach what they are teaching. So we started this project here to help them develop teaching skills in Math, Science and Language Arts. We have them working on toilet systems, all the rotary clubs of Belize have been working on this for years. This is true, there are schools that don’t have adequate toilet systems in these schools. Aside from doing the workshop for primary school teachers, we also started two years ago holding leadership seminars for principals—high school principals and primary school principals—all across the country.”