And the Minister today was in her constituency, visiting the Gales Point Government School. The small school has been educating the children of the tiny village for over 15 years, and today, they finally broke ground for a new preschool. Courtney Menzies was there this morning and has this story.
Gales Point Government School hosts about 95 children, from preschool to standard six, but many of the students are forced to share classrooms.
But by the time school reopens after the Christmas break in December, the youngest students will have a brand new preschool, and the primary school will see some much needed renovations.
And the new school will see plenty of new facilities.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Area Rep, Belize Rural Central
"We are hoping and we are very confident that by December the Christmas present will be the full refurbished primary school and the brand new preschool, with disability access, a ramp, with shower, with kitchen, it will double as a hurricane shelter and like I say, the amenities that Mr Tun described, like toys for the children, amenities, fans, and brand new electrical for the primary school and the new roof and all the amenities, I think it will be a wonderful Christmas present if it can finish by the end of this year."
Shermadine Samuel-Andrewin, Principal, Gales Point Government School
"I'm very excited, I've been here for the past 15 years and there hasn't been any renovations done to this government school so I'm very excited to see we will be getting a new preschool, we're getting out government school renovated and I think it's wonderful."
"In the past we had dilapidation of the first preschool, we had animals, insects with the teachers and students within the building then we didn't have our own private bathroom, but now it will have everything we deserve as teachers and students at Gales Point Government School."
Jason Altschaft, Chairman, Gales Point Manatee
"I don't think you could put like a how important it is, it is the important thing to do because like we all know, you gotta build on foundation, and education, preschool, that's the very beginning so the fact that enough people saw that this village is worthy or focused education on the young in a growing community, that's priceless because we didn't have to fight too hard for that other than stay up and say yes we want it, yes we want it, yes we need it."
And the villagers are hoping that this expansion will lead to more students.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Area Rep, Belize Rural Central
"We would like for children from other communities to come here, for example, Mullins River, Hope Creek, maybe Sarawee, and even from Dangriga because some of the teachers are from those areas and the bus comes in everyday. But it is important for us to provide the top quality education for our children in this community, it being a rural community, you know?"
But the principal of the school is hoping that the expansion won't just end with a preschool:
Shermadine Samuel-Andrewin, Principal, Gales Point Government School
"We have multigrade and mono grade, it's not all multi because we have the infant 1 and 2 classes together, we have standard 1 and 2 together then we have standard 3, 4, 5 and 6 separate."
Reporter:
"That will continue even with the new infrastructure?"
Shermadine Samuel-Andrewin, Principal, Gales Point Government School
"Yes that will continue because the infrastructure is only for the preschool."
Courtney Menzies:
"Are you hoping though that maybe the primary school can one day get more classrooms?"
Shermadine Samuel-Andrewin, Principal, Gales Point Government School
"Yes that would be very great and I am also a teaching principal so it would good if I could only be an administrator or a teacher because you know the struggle and the work we have to face with doing both but it would be good if we could get more teachers so we could get a classroom for each grade."
But Samuel-Andrewin will have to wait and see, since the preschool has been five years in the making - two of which were due to the pandemic.
However, other areas of the village are also seeing major developments.
