And Fonseca was at the inauguration of Ladyville Technical High School's newest classroom building. It was a collaboration between the school and the Belize Defense Force. The principal explained that they were in need of this building because they were having spatial issues and that the BDF were more than ready to lend a helping hand, especially since the soldiers utilize the school's facilities.
Reporter
"How badly did you need a new building?"
Diane Westby, Principal, Ladyville Technical High School
"Very badly, because for the last 5 years, we have been rotating our intake at first form, so if one year I would have an intake of 5 first form classes, the following year when they are promoted, I can only take 4 because we did not have the additional classroom. Now that we have it, I was able to take 5 first form this year. We provided the materials; they provided the labor. So, if I speak only in terms of the materials, we spent a little over $20,000 on the materials. What I learned a little about construction is that labor comes almost as half as the material so that gives you a good figure of more or less what we would have paid if we had to pay for labor too."
Brigadier General Azariel Loria, Commander, BDF
"We saw the need to use some of their facilities such as their computer lab, we do not have a state-of-the-art computer lab as theirs. They willingly decided to assist us in turn. It's kind of a quick pro quo, they too have needs, they were expanding, they are expanding as matter of fact and they have requested that we also assist in doing minor repairs to their buildings, to their classrooms - their ablution blocks. Many more students want to join the high school, so the principal requested for our assistance to construct this addition where it is now a classroom that houses about 30 or so students. So, that's the kind of collaboration that we decided to go with."
And though the Minister of Education was just an invited guest, he explained that there needs to be more collaboration with the BDF to harness the training that the soldiers receive.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
"Over the past few weeks, I've been having discussions with the BDF, in particular with Major Galen Robateau, who is responsible for education outreach on behalf of the Belize Defense Force. We've been talking about how we can work more closely together, collaborate, and how can we provide greater opportunities for the men and women of the Belize Defense Force and their families, their children. As well, how can the Ministry of Education take advantage of the great depository of expertise that we have in the Belize Defense Force. The Belize Defense Force has some of the most highly trained people in this country and I think we must find ways of taking advantage of that expertise, that wealth of knowledge that we have in the BDF. Today, that MOU was between a particular school and the BDF but we want to expand that and have a comprehensive memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Education and the Belize Defense Force."
The school currently houses 490 students, and the new classroom will be able to fit 32 of them.
