After a long and involved process of consultation and cogitation, Belize's educational policy makers have produced a set of standards for secondary education in Belize. It's a regional effort, led by the Central American cultural and educational coordinator, but developers say the product is completely specific to Belize. But what will it mean for students who are in high school? Well minister of education Francis Fonseca says that students will be expected to achieve certain targets:
Hon. Francis Fonseca- Minister of Education
"When a child completes their primary education they should have these basic skills. They should have this basic knowledge, these basic values. I think it is important for us to have that clearly defined. The same for secondary education. Clear standards, this is the product we want. When a child completes the four years of high school: this is what they should know, these are the values they should have in a sense, these are the skills they should possess."
Jules Vasquez
"We know that a lot of the budget, the huge budget, of the ministry of education is taken up in administrative, paying salaries and that sort of thing. But do you still have the ability to program. Do you still have the mobility in the budget operationally to still try and do programming?"
Francis Fonseca
"We have more than we used to have but we still don't have enough. You are right in saying some, almost 94 percent of the budget, is taken up with recurrent costs and salaries for teachers of course. It is the huge bulk of the cost. It is very limited you are right and we have to do a lot more of that in terms of programs. Undertaking this type of exercise involves programs. Our initiative at the early childhood education level in terms of the pre-schools involves real investment in programs. So I think that is the conversation we are having at government level, at the national level. And we understand very clearly, certainly I do as the minister of education that if we are going to have any long term meaningful impact on education we have to invest in those programs. So the funds will have to be allocated in that type of investment. And what we have now is more that we had in the past but is still is certainly not enough."
Today's handing over of the complete set of standards is only the beginning as planners will now have to work on massaging them into the curriculum. The primary school standards were developed in 1999.