The Senate met today in Belmopan to consider the revenue and appropriations bill 2023 - 2024 - otherwise known as the budget.
The debate was not exactly robust since there was no one on the opposition bench.
Investment in Education is one subject that did generate some back and forth:
Janelle Chanona, NGO Senator
"Very exciting that we're hearing hundreds of millions of dollars going into education but at the end of the day I think it would be a travesty for us to come here next year and to hear in the interim that the classroom still needs fan, still needs water cooler, still needs - teachers are still taking money out of their pocket to subsidize. All of these different roles to making sure that the children are there, bellies are full, books are paid for, bags are on their backs, they have their tablets, they have their internet. That is wonderful. But again, we all need to be part of that conversation to make sure that we're getting the outcomes as well as the outputs because madam president I'll tell you we could spend money, but how do we make sure that as part of the governance that we're being part of the conversation and that we can attest that Okay, if this wasn't it then where do we come at it next time, because if we keep throwing money after it and that's not creating what we need then we need to look at that."
Chris Coye, PUP Senator
"Look at the ministry of education the investments that are being made in Education that is what is being reflected in this budget."
"We went from I think 273 million in this current fiscal year to 303 million in this new fiscal year, an increase of 30 million dollars or 11 percent increase in the budget for education. That's investing in people. That's knowing the problems that we have and addressing those problems with these solutions and that's addressing the quantity of human capital directly. As to the quality of human capital there is also that investment, investment in teacher training, the investment in quality assurance. What the MCC as well as the World Bank has identified is an issue in learning outcomes and the impact and that teacher training can have in improving those learning outcomes. So where is that investment being made in those areas."
