MinisterofEducationandYouth AddressfortheLaunchoftheTeacherTrainingProgramme BananaBelt November11,2010

Salutations: (Should be protocol list on the podium) Hon. Eden Martinez, Minister of Human Development and Social Transformation Hon. Melvin Hulse, Minister of Public Utilities, Transport and National Emergency Management Organization Mr. Keith Henderson, Director-Project Implementation Unit of the Banana Support Programme Ministry of Education Officials Ministry of Economic Development Officials Other Government Officials Dr. Corinth Morter-Lewis, President of the University of Belize Faculty and Staff of the University of Belize Managing Authorities represented here today Principals of Primary Schools and Secondary Schools of the Stann Creek and Toledo Students and Parentsand Last but not least teachers of the Banana Belt Good Morning! What a pleasure it is for me to be in the South once again! Many of you know that I have visited the South often to tour our schools and to hold town meetings with our stakeholders. There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, I am always warmly welcomed by the people of the South who are such great hosts. Secondly, the two Southern Districts have always been thought of as the forgotten districts. Indeed, examining the statistics, certainly in education, it is hard to argue with this perception. Low enrolment rates underscore the inadequate access to education in the South; examination scores reveal issues of quality in the South; and teacher training data shows that the when it comes to percentage of trained teachers, the South lags behind. It is for this reason that the South deserves our attention and indeed my attention. So, I have visited the South often, because I enjoy the South and its people and because the South deserves to be forgotten no more! Yes, I and the Ministry of Education and Youth realized a long time ago that we need to pay special attention to the South. Today, we take yet another step towards addressing the special needs of the South. Today, we are all gathered here to launch the Banana Belt Teacher Training Programme that specifically targets primary school teachers in the Banana Belt. Our Planning Unit informs me that more than three (3)

MinisterofEducationandYouth AddressfortheLaunchoftheTeacherTrainingProgramme BananaBelt November11,2010

out of four (4) of the over 200 primary school teachers in the Banana Belt are untrained. The Banana Belt sits right between the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts and as such it is not close to either of the major towns where its teachers could easily access training. It is for this reason that we drafted a grant proposal to the European Banana Support Programme to provide teacher training opportunities for teachers specifically in the Banana Belt. Our proposal was accepted and so we sent out a call for proposals for institutions to provide this training. And lo and behold, our very own University of Belize won the bid to provide this trainingthus utilizing and building on our on national capacity and of course keeping the dollars at home! Today, thanks to the efforts of our Planning Unit, our Teacher Education Development Service Area, the Ministry of Economic Development and to the European Union Banana Support Programme we take a giant step in the journey to addressing the quality of education in the Banana Belt specifically and in the Southern Districts generally. The programme will be targeting about 60 primary school teachers over the next two and half years. These are teachers who hold at least a high school diploma and others who have associates degrees but in fields other than education. At the end of this programme we should have more than doubled the number of trained teachers in the Banana Belt. Although we know that trained teachers alone is not the sole determinant of educational quality, we know that it is a necessary ingredient in the recipe for educational quality. Therefore we anticipate that in the not too distant future we will begin to see improvements in examination scores and in the overall quality of education in the Banana Belt and the South more generally. I wish to express my gratitude to the European Union for supporting this initiative through the Banana Support Programme. I also wish to similarly express gratitude to the University of Belize for taking up this challenge. It is not only good to have a home grown response, but it is also good that our national University is able to respond and to be pioneering new ground. Let me speak to some of the special features of this programme. The programme will be done on a part-time basis during the evenings and also utilizing on-line delivery.

MinisterofEducationandYouth AddressfortheLaunchoftheTeacherTrainingProgramme BananaBelt November11,2010

You may ask what is so special about this. Well this is special for two reasons. As you may have realized we have a problem with the supply of trained teachers in our system. Therefore, we are forced to hire untrained teachers and then to train them afterwards. This means that such untrained teachers are normally granted study leave to go get trained. However, this means that we have to hire replacement teachers, who themselves are often untrained! So, we end up in a vicious cycle and the proportion of trained teachers in our system remains relatively unchanged and often declines with the expansion of the system. But more than that granting study leave with pay and then hiring replacement teachers is also more expensive (since we are paying for two teachers but only one is in the classroom teaching). So it is a key feature of this programme that it is being done on a part-time basis eliminating the need for teachers to be granted study leave and for the hiring of replacement teachers. Moreover, I think it is also advantageous because the teacher can reflect on and improve his classroom experience and he is learning new theories and methods. A second key feature is that part of the programme will be delivered on-line. This is special because it is really the first time we are trying this for teachers. In the past, I am aware that we have had distance education teacher training programs, but I do not believe we have had on-line programmes. Utilizing communications technology in this way has the potential for us to reach more teachers even in the remotest of villages. Therefore this is also a special feature and I am pleased to see our National University pioneering in this area. A while ago, I expressed enthusiasm over the anticipated outcomes of this programme. However, I think it only fit that I also sound a caution. I wish to remind all of us, and especially our teachers who will enroll in this programme, that we must be careful not to count our chickens before they are hatched. While this programme is special because (1) it is accessibleright in your backyard; (2) it will be done part-time in the evenings and (3) it will have an on-line component, I must remind teachers that this will require their extra dedication and commitment. You must remain committed; you must be willing to put in the extra time and effort and you must not short-change your school and your students. You are still expected to produce in the classroom on a daily basis. We are doing our part to make the training

MinisterofEducationandYouth AddressfortheLaunchoftheTeacherTrainingProgramme BananaBelt November11,2010

accessible to you and we ask you to do your part to take full advantage of the opportunity. This latter point allows brings me to some of our other efforts nationally to improve our education system. Over the last two years or so, we have spent a lot of time revising the Education Act and today we have a new Education and Training Act. A key reform introduced in the Education and Training Act is the establishment of a National Teaching Service Commission which we hope to operationalize by the end of this month. With the establishment of a Teaching Service Commission, we consider that much benefit would be derived to the system of education in Belize and, more importantly, the quality of education delivered. With the broad-based composition of the Teaching Service Commission to administer the regulations pertaining to the teaching services, efficiency, transparency and increased trust and confidence in the management of the system would be derived to the benefit of all concerned. Certainly, the establishment of the Teaching Service Commission seeks to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders by raising the status of teachers and simultaneously increasing public confidence in the teaching services. In this regard the Teaching Service Commission shall ensure that our children benefit from qualified teachers and furthermore that the rules and regulations governing the terms and conditions of employment of teachers are applied fairly and squarely to all teachers free from political, religious or other influence. Managements will be able to hold teachers accountable and in turn managements will be held accountable so that teachers will be treated fairly without fear of political, religious or other influence. Parents and students will thus benefit from a better quality of education from a qualified, accountable and fairly treated teaching force. Ultimately this will contribute to the professionalization of the teaching service.

MinisterofEducationandYouth AddressfortheLaunchoftheTeacherTrainingProgramme BananaBelt November11,2010

Finally and significantly, the role of the Ministry of Education, would be enhanced with more focus placed on policy development and implementation, management of change and issues of a developmental nature. Folks, in this regard, I am mindful of the hard work and perseverance it took for us to get to this point in the establishment of the Belize Teaching Service Commission. I am also mindful that our hard work must continue to improve our education system for all Belizeans to ensure access their to a quality education for their own personal development and for the development of Belize. These are the benefits we anticipate from the establishment of the Teaching Service Commission. I wish however to emphasize a few key messages about the establishment of the commission as already mentioned: 1. The Teaching Service Commission shall ensure that our children benefit from qualified teachers; 2. and furthermore that the rules and regulations governing the terms and conditions of employment of teachers are applied fairly and squarely to all teachers free from political, religious or other influence. To the first point, I wish to sound the call to all our teachers here in the Banana Belt and indeed throughout the country. The Teaching Service Commission will be enforcing that our teachers get qualified. As you know teachers are required to have licenses to teach. Those who are trained get Full Licenses and those who are untrained get provisional licenses. The new Education and Training Act not only establishes the Commission but it also sets out how long a teacher can remain a teacher with just a provisional license. Teachers who have provisional licenses only will have a maximum of five (5) years in which to get fully trained to meet the requirements for a full license. During the five (5) years teachers will have to show evidence that they have enrolled in a programme to get qualified. If by the second

MinisterofEducationandYouth AddressfortheLaunchoftheTeacherTrainingProgramme BananaBelt November11,2010

year a teacher has not enrolled, the Commission will be sending out reminders to them, so that come year five, if the teacher has not completed training in order to qualify for a Full Licence, the teacher would have to stop teaching. That teacher may then pursue studies on his own or seek other employment. If the teacher chooses to pursue studies on his own and becomes subsequently qualified, he/she may then reapply for a Full Licence. Managing Authorities, Parents, Students, Teachers, Community Members, we are serious about ensuring that we have trained teachers in our schools. We are serious about improving the status and confidence in the teaching force and about improving the quality of education in our schools. To the second point, while we will hold high standards for our teachers we will also ensure that they are treated fairly. Therefore the commission will ensure that the rules and regulations governing the terms and conditions of employment of teachers are applied fairly and squarely to all teachers free from political, religious or other influence. So teachers, my message to you is to take advantage of this great opportunity that is being made available to get trained. To Managing Authorities I also sound the call about the need to adhere to the Education and Training Act and the Rules that are derived from this Act. This is so as it relates to ensuring that we hire qualified, trained teachers over untrained ones and that we apply regulations fairly and squarely to our teachers free from political, religious or other influence. Fellow citizens of the South, I wish to take this opportunity to blow our horn a bit for it seems that no matter how hard we work, we are reminded of things we are not yet doing and that need attention. And yes, there is much work yet to be done, but I think it also important to be aware that we have done a lot: 1. In 2008, we introduced the Secondary Education Start-Up Subsidy to needy first and second form students throughout the country. 2. In 2009, realizing the special attention the South deserved, we made this subsidy automatic for all Primary School Completersand let me tell you we have seen some preliminary benefitsan increase in enrolment of 7%!

MinisterofEducationandYouth AddressfortheLaunchoftheTeacherTrainingProgramme BananaBelt November11,2010

3. In 2009, we launched the Certificate in Primary Education targeting some 860 primary school teachers with Associate Degrees in fields other than educationto date we have about 500 teachers enrolled in that programme which is heavily financed by the Ministry of Education. 4. We have constructed a new school at Corazon Creek in Toledo and right here in the Banana Belt we have constructed a new facility for Georgetown Technical and with European Union Banana Support Programme help we are expanding that facility as we speak! 5. By the end of this month, we expect to introduce a new system for financing secondary schools that will help to level the playing field and also provide additional funding for students with special academic and socio economic needs! Fellow citizens, these are but a few of our accomplishments, but there are other things that we are engaged in. Yes, we done a lot and yes there is still a lot to do! Working together and with your support we can take our education to higher heights!