Yesterday we brought you part one of PUP's report card after their first year in office - grading tourism and the economy - where the first term government did well.
Today marks the actual anniversary of the election, and to celebrate, we've graded two more sectors: health and education.
And while they may have felt like a 4th former who just saw their name on the graduation list after last night's high grades, today's ones aren't so great.
COVID has made it difficult to get A's in those two sectors, but they knew the virus would be a problem before they even stepped foot into office. So we used their Plan Belize manifesto and all the promises inside as a grading scheme to see just how much they have – and haven't – accomplished- while still grading them against he COVID curve. Courtney Menzies has part two of PUP's report card.
When the PUP took office eight months into the pandemic, they knew the challenges that they would have to face, – the main one being not knowing what COVID would throw at them.
And maybe it was that naïvete, or just aloofness, that led to the PUP leader encouraging Belizeans to come out en masse to vote, despite rising numbers, which consequently led to the highest spike in COVID cases that we have seen, peaking at over 4,000 active cases.
And that number included eight elected representatives, one of whom passed away a month after being elected.
But while they were off to a rocky start, the active cases eventually dropped and even now during the third wave, have not reached back to those levels.
Still, we're a long way from the promises inside the Plan Belize manifesto – one of the first being affordable and universal health care, which is stated on page 4.
And on page six, the government pledged to build on epidemiological and laboratory capacities, but we note that, at this time, there is no epidemiologist in that unit – and the head epidemiologist, Dr Russel Manzanero, was transferred.
And their strategy, as they put it, is supposed to be built on the implementation of 4 pillars. But the first seems a bit shaky: ensuring all health facilities and staff have the supplies they need to respond to the crisis. As we reported on Tuesday, the KHMH is running low on life-saving supplies and has to be using money out of its own pocket to procure it because they aren't getting it from the Ministry of Health.
And if we look at yesterday's COVID numbers – eleven new deaths were reported, bringing the total to 530. The figure has sextupled since the PUP took over. But the active cases are only at half of what it was last December.
But while the deaths shot up, the vaccination numbers came slowly behind. Even with campaigns – and songs – the number of vaccinated persons has just surpassed 200,000.
While we acknowledge that COVID is a tricky situation with no right answer, we give this sector a "D."
And that's without including other promises such as building more hospitals, creating health clinics for care of patients with mental illness, and reducing the mortality rates of non-communicable diseases.
And COVID is directly tied to education, because it's been almost two years since students have been out of classes. The PUP have endeavored to get them back in, but at this point only 61 schools have taken the plunge into hybrid learning. 127 others have been green lit but are still doing distance learning.
And while that is the Ministry's main goal, they announced other side goals in their manifesto. The first says that they would set up a COVID 19 Education team to re imagine education and accelerate change in teaching and learning. A task force was set up back in January and in August, the ministry unveiled its plans for reforming the education system.
But so far, that's all there are: Plans. And the biggest includes trimming down the curriculum for schools, which will take a serious load off the shoulders of students and teachers. So far, that's only a pilot project.
And another pilot project we're excited to see is free education, that the Minister of Police announced back in October would begin in south side Belize City. That should lead up to another of the manifesto's promises, free education for all students from pre-school to 6th form.
And there are other promises that have come to fruition, such as a teacher learning institution to have 100% trained teachers and a rural Education Grant Fund. Additionally, they have liberated schools schools from the punitive PSE testing.
And in one year, they've also set their sights on improving special and vocational education in Belize, and on revising the vision and leadership for the University of Belize.
And while that is good and well, we must look at the current situation, which is dire. Without in class learning, students are falling behind dramatically, and most of them don't have either the technology or the support to carry on with distance learning. There are many kids who don't even attend classes or hand in assignments.
The Ministry wants to implement a digital device/e-book program from standard 4 to 4th form, and to transform education by deploying technology – but we're still a far way from that.
And while we hope these plans can see the light of day, for now, this sector comes in at a "C-."
Tomorrow you'll get to see their final grades in the sectors of Agriculture, Citizen Security, Transparency, and Land and Housing.
