Experiences in Belize

      Two weeks ago I wrote about a podcast I had listened to about an educator in Belize, Delfena Mitchell.  I choose to listen to that particular podcast because I was about to embark on a trip to visit the country of Belize myself.  I had hoped to be able to visit a school while I was in Belize but like many United State's schools the children were out for Easter break.  I did have several experiences I think are worth sharing as my early childhood connection this week.

      During my trip I visited a cafe with my 7 year old daughter in the small village of Hopkins, Belize.  While there we began to observe a small child of 3 years.  This child was playing in the open air cafe while his mother worked.  He was expected to entertain himself.  As we were there he went to the back of the building to collect many green pods which he brought to us.  He also had brought one purple berry.  With these he began to show my daughter how to play marbles.  As I observed the interaction between the two children I realized he was speaking English to my daughter and the Belizean Creole which is spoken by most residents to his mother and other patrons of the cafe.  I later found out all Belizeans speak 2 to 3 languages from a very young age. 
I also watched him use the seeds to play and observed the excellent fine motor skills it took for him to play.  Both my daughter and I were very impressed by his creativeness and his ability to play.  At 7 years my daughter had a hard time getting the seed to shoot out of her fingers correctly.  My daughter continued to play with this young boy for the remainder of the afternoon.  As I continued to observe I remained amazed by this child's independence, tenacity and ability to play.

      I also visited a business owned by woman from Canada.  We were discussing her business and taxes in Belize.  She indicated she paid 14% taxes but none of it went to infrastructure.  She found it frustrating that although she was paying taxes the many roads continued to be unpaved or in disrepair etc.  What she found most frustrating was that women who worked for her had to pay to have their children attend school.  She felt her taxes should be supporting the people and systems in Belize.  

      Upon my return I have tried to make a contact with a preschool in Dangriga, Belize to establish a relationship and get more direct information on programs for young children in their country but I have not heard back as of today.  I then decided to do some research on my own about eduction in Belize on the internet.  Here are some of the facts about primary schools there.    


Tuition is USD$15 a month, though the government covers it for citizens and permanent residents.While public education is "free" for most children, parents still have to pay for school supplies, books and uniforms. These costs are occasionally too high for Belizean parents, which forces some students to drop out early Nearly every child is enrolled in the first year, yet only about 75 percent finish primary school. Recently, the government has begun programs to cut costs for parents, such as lending textbooks to all students for free. The programs, though still imperfect, should help to reduce dropout rates.

The availability and quality of public education varies greatly throughout Belize. Schools are generally better in major cities and towns, with the best selection in Belize City. Slightly less than 40 percent of Belizean teachers have formal training and class sizes hover between 17 and 23 students per teacher. The poorest school conditions are in Toledo, with the highest dropout rates in the country and the fewest trained teachers. Schools range from modern two story buildings with science and computer labs to single room shacks with thatched roofs. The Ministry of Education provides school buses for children with long distances between school and home, mostly in rural areas.

Paradise Hunter Website. (2013) Retrieved from: http://www.paradisehunter.com/CountryInformation/Belize/Living-There/Schools

      Upon further exploration I found a research paper written on the status of preschool in Belize.  It describes a movement in Belize to move quality early learning programs forward.  Below I am sharing several paragraphs form the papers conclusion.

"I am delighted that I took the opportunity to conduct this study that described the current status of preschool education in Belize. When I first explored the idea of this national study, I was a little uneasy about what I would find. I did not want to submit a report with all negative statements to describe the status of preschool education to my colleagues in Belize. As I conducted my observations, I was impressed by the efforts that were being made to provide access to young children and to improve the quality of preschool education in Belize.I was ecstatic.

 

The first program that impressed me was the attachment program that the government recently initiated. Attaching preschools to the public primary schools was a great way to provide access to young children especially those in the lower-income areas, the villages. The second program that astonished me was the preschool district coordinator program that commenced in September 2007. The major stakeholders did not simply decide to establish more preschool programs without support. Rather, they provided coordinators in each district to monitor and to assist teachers to develop the quality of their programs.

Getting deeper in the study with the observations and the interviews, I was amazed by the role and involvement of the National Preschool Unit to develop the quality of early childhood programs. The development of a standardized curriculum, standardized classroom routine schedule, and a standardized list of basic display chart and materials for each preschool classroom was impressive. This standardization was applied to all preschool classrooms around the country, rural, urban, public, and private, along with annual workshops. This was impressive and brought to my attention that this may have been the reason why the scores of the observation instruments did not differ in regard to area and type of preschool.

Then to top it off was the development of an associate degree pilot program in early childhood education that commenced in fall 2007. Although the program caters to a small group of early childhood education teachers concentrated in one district, it is a great step toward getting preschool teachers qualified. Increasing the number of teachers in the program and providing the program to the other five districts would be the next step to increase the rate of qualifying preschool teachers.

Although the quality of the preschool environments was scored in the minimal range due to the lack of financial resources and physical resources, these four positive initiatives will improved the quality of preschool education in Belize. With a conscious effort to promote and provide safe, healthy, and attractive learning environments for young children, the preschool education will continue to develop to the point that it can be compared with the standards and quality of preschool programs in other countries around the world. The process used might be applicable to developing countries in similar circumstances.

One major stakeholder emphasized, “I have seen a lot of improvements. And when I say a lot of improvements, I mean a lot of improvements because the teachers, the teachers  are  excited  and  I  am  excited ....” I must say  that  I too am extremely  excited about the direction of the progress and development of preschool education in Belize, and I can see why preschool stakeholders were excited about the program. The country has recognized the importance of preschool education and has embarked on initiatives to develop the program. It would be my honor to participate in this endeavor. This attention to early childhood education has the possibility to take Belize’s economy and social structure to the next level. This is certainly something to be excited about and to celebrate". 

August, A. L. (2012) Preschool Education in Belize: Research on the Current Status and Implications for the FutureCollege of Education & Human Services, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, 32224, USA 
Education 2012, 2(7): 231-238 DOI: 10.5923/j.edu.20120207.03