11 days ago, on January 10, schools all over Belize re-opened their doors for hybrid learning, after almost 2 years of closure due to the COVID pandemic.
At this point - the Ministry of Education knows that COVID may be raging, but there's another looming epidemic, one of mis-education - due to all the learning that has been lost to almost two years of school closure. So, the Ministry of Education stuck to its deadline and pushed schools to re-open.
As of Monday, 568 schools were approved for Hybrid learning, which represents 94 percent of all schools nationwide. Of the 568 approved schools, 402 schools are open for hybrid learning. This figure represents 71 percent of the approved schools, and 66 percent of all schools. 203 schools are open for remote learning, and they account for 34 percent of all schools.
On Wednesday night, Education Minister Francis Fonseca was the guest on UNCUT. Host Jules Vasquez asked him to discuss the government's determination to see school children return to the classroom:
