Belize Villages to consolidate many small schools in the community!

* Belize school children
* Another village school in Belize
* village school classroom

* Village school in Belize



BELIZE CHURCH / STATE SCHOOL SYSTEM IS REVIEWED

Most of the schools in Belize at the lower primary school level are doing badly. They are for the most part religious schools of one kind or another. Inasmuch as they were supposedly started by foreign religious missions to bring educational services to remoter Belizean communities and served a purpose, they were tolerated. Over the years such schools have morphed into public schools, with a religious bias and have evolved into being financially supported by the local central Government to the tune of 80% and greater sometimes, of their operating costs. In the review it is desired that international missions of religious bent creating and doing schools in Belize should morph back to the responsibility of the foreign donors and operators. Financing is always a problem, but in Belize with declining financial resources and a PUP inherited national debt burden currently being exacerbated by the new UDP government, the ability to financially assist religious schools is declining rapidly in capability. The review is indicating that home religious missions in foreign countries, operating schools in Belize should be prepared to take back their financial responsibilities. As a country we can no longer afford them. Nor is the education being given adequate, as the statistics show. Somehow the Government has to cut costs and consolidating many individual religious schools in small communities into a more larger centralized unit school that is not religious ruled, seems to be the current thinking. The problem is; that there is much duplication in administrative, maintainance and salaries for many small schools being financed 80% by the government, that could more efficiently be done through consolidating schools into one unit, particularly in smaller communities. Religious schools are seeing the writing on the wall, in that they must re-invigorate their home foreign church missions to carry the financial burden if they wish to continue in Belize. The government longer range plans look to be consolidation in communities with too many schools based on different competitive religions, to get the cost efficiencies of one administrative, maintainance, and teacher base in the smaller communities. This has been a long time coming and long overdue.