It's a campaign promise that's been on the books since 1998 - but it seems the man of promise Said Musa never knew it would be so hard to introduce African and Indian studies in schools.
But surely, curriculum developers Drs. Angel Cal and Joseph Iyo have been working at implementation. They have run pilot projects in a number of schools - and say they are now ready for full implementation
Next year.
That was announced with much fanfare today - at one of the pilot schools - Saint Mary's primary - not too far away from the divisional office of the said "promise man" - who was there to bask, finally.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
These books that these Saint Mary's children are reading will form part of the new curriculum of African and Indian studies to be implemented nationally in August in standard 5 and 6 - affecting 17 to 20 thousand students and 500 teachers. The designers of the curriculum say it is very important that they learn this history
Dr. Angel Cal,
"As a product of our colonial history, Belizeans in general were brought up with mental models made not in Belize but in Europe or North America. Our official language, Christian religion, our laws, our system of government, our sciences and technologies, our history, and even our aspirations seem to be directly derived mostly from Western civilization."
"In adapting Western Civilization we were taught to ignore and deny our creoleness, our mestizoness, our gairfunaness, if I can be permitted to put it that way."
Dr. Joseph Iyo,
"Only slavery and slave trade is taught in Belizean primary schools. A child who grows up identifying himself with a slave ancestry will never be proud of himself."
"If we study African history, if we study Mayan history, we won't be making those mistakes. We won't be saying out ancestors were slaved. We would say they were enslaved. They became property. That is what this project is trying to achieve."
It's a quest that speaks not only to education, but also to personal upliftment for primary schoolers saddled by sagging self-esteem and self hate.
Hon. Said Musa,
"Clearly we have a duty to you, our children, to open your eyes to the truth about the history of the people who made them. You must be taught about the history your people and where you came from. And at a early age when people sense of self is formed and when they must be taught to be proud of their forbearers and of themselves is when you must be taught these things. The widespread low self-esteem in so much of our young people today is in no small part due to th4e failures of the school system to tell the truth about themselves and their past."
But not everyone agrees; some scholars that the teaching of African history is retrograde and divisive, and more than that it is in fulfillment of a special interest lobby.
Hon. Said Musa,
"I know that there are those in our society who believe that we should not teach our people about the great African and Mayan civilization and the holocaust in Europe. They argue that this will only breathe division and hatred but they are wrong. And all the nations of the world in the UN now recognize that we have a duty to remember."
"This is nothing new and its not just a Evan Hyde or a Said Musa project its much bigger than both of us. This is what is essential for us to do for the benefit of children and we do need to get it into a school."
And now it's left to be seen if this agenda can make everyone as proud of their ancestry as the prime minister is.
Hon. Said Musa,
"85% of our people have a little bit of African or Mayan. My maternal grandmother was a Mayan woman from a little village in Mexico. She was a short little Mayan lady who used to make Tamales and I used to sell it and I am proud of that."
The African and Mayan history project will take up 2% of the social studies curriculum - and will be introduced to the PSE in 2005.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited for the internet by Keith Swift