And in more education news, today the Ministry of Education launched Connect-ED - a project which will give almost 200 schools across Belize access to the internet.
During the pandemic, many students could not access online classes and had to resort to paper packages while schools were closed. However, the Minister of Education explained that the future is technology and outfitting schools with internet access is moving in the right direction.
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
"I'm absolutely excited about this project, we're partnering with BTL, DIGI, the future of education as you all will appreciate is technology. We have to embrace it, there is a serious crisis in our country in terms of the digital divide, especially in our rural communities where our students do not have access, our young people do not have access to reliable, adequate internet services so this is a start of addressing that very serious problem. And as I've said in my remarks, it's not just an education problem, it's a human development issue, it's an economic development issue, so we as a country have to invest in technology, have to invest in the expansion of broadband internet services throughout this country for education but also for economic development."
"This initial phase will cost us around 2.5 million dollars, this initial phase, around 200 schools will be affected, but we're really fast `tracking it, we're trying to make sure that between now and December, we deal with these 200 schools and one of the issues, as I mentioned, we have a lot of schools that talk about being connected but when you go to the school, you find out that it's the principal's office that has internet, or the teacher's lounge or teacher's room or the computer lab has internet but the classrooms don't have internet, the campus doesn't have internet, and we want a Belize and an education system where the students have access to the internet wherever they are."
Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities, Energy, Logistics and E-governance
"You know that this is part of our digitalization plan and it is important for us to bring technology to all of the country, especially to our schools, and so this is an important step for us."
International Country Artist In Belize
International Country and Western artist, Dustin Collins is in Belize. He landed at the PGIA after 11 this morning but it's not his first time here. He says he keeps coming back for the sunshine, and he believes that Belize is the best place to start filming for his new music videos.
Our team met up with him at the airport - and while most #1 Billboard artists would be accompanied with an Entourage, Collins had only a suitcase and his guitar.
Here's what he told us:
Travel Requirements Are No More
And, finally tonight, Belize is well and truly free of all COVID measures.
But is it a sign of a rebounding Belize or just COVID fatigue from a suffering tourism industry?
Well, whatever the case it's all outlined in S.I. 100 of 2022 which indicates that effective today July 14th the Government of Belize has made the decision to remove health measures from all points of entry to Belize.
That means that proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test is no longer required upon arrival and that the purchase of Travel Insurance is now optional - rather than being mandatory - but still encouraged.
And just for good measure, in a release from the BTB tonight G.O.B cautions that vaccines remain the best protection against severe disease and death from COVID-19.
