We met Requena at an event for his ministry.
Today the Ministry of Education, along with various education stakeholders, representatives from other ministries and the private sector, gathered for a joint sector review of the Belize Education Sector Plan. The 2 day review includes the progress made over the past four year and how they can work the kinks out for the upcoming plan. Minister Oscar Requena told us more.
Oscar Requena, Ministry of Education
"We have all the partners in education coming together, we are looking at the plan 2021-2025, that four year plan, we're looking at what worked, what are the successes, what did not work, what are the challenges and certainly taking stock that of that moving forward in developing the first ever joint sector plan for education."
"What we saw is that there are certain areas that we have seen successes, for example, I think one of the areas that we are seeing great success is in the enrollment of our students, retention, and certainly a significant decrease in the drop out rate. So those are some of the successes, we are seeing that more females are actually in the school system and that's great news but there is concern for our boys. We certainly need to strengthen the level of support we provide. There's a lot we're doing but we need to do more to ensure that our young men stay in school, that they complete school, and that they become a part of the labor workforce and contribute to the development of Belize. So that's very important. I believe that another area that came out where we are seeing that we need to strengthen is the whole area of TVET education. And I'm happy to say that just recently Cabinet gave its approval for the national TVET policy but we need to move beyond that now, we certainly need to develop the relevant legislation, we need to develop the national trading agency, among other areas so that's another area of concern we have certainly and I can say to you that many of those areas that we have identified that need to be improved certainly we are going to address those in this new sector plan 26/30."
The plan will coincide with the 2026 fiscal year.
