When it rains in Caye Caulker, students at Ocean Academy are unable to have classes in their building because of the floodwaters. Back in 2019, there was a groundbreaking for a new parcel of land to put the school on, but now residents are concerned that the land is being given away.
6 years later, there is still no school on the land and yesterday we asked the area rep about it. Minister Andre Perez explained that it was the previous administration that did the groundbreaking, but he's already working on moving Ocean Academy - which will be turned into a public school. He told us more via Zoom yesterday.
Andre Perez, Area Rep., Belize Rural South
"I've always been working with Ocean Academy, it's a building there that is sitting on a land that started off as a private school of maybe about 50 students by a philanthropic person there in Caye Caulker. So it has ballooned out to 274 students. Now the Ministry of Education has secured a tract of land. It's actually waterside by the western side by Bahia as well and that was swamp. But with the working with the companies that were doing the seabed extraction. I was able to secure one of the persons there to use the land from the Ministry of Education to fill and create the bounds of sand. What happened is I do not know about any shrinking, the land is fully filled up now. All there is now is to build the high school there but it's going to be a government school. Right now it's a private school but the school is going to be public under the Ministry of Education. As for groundbreaking, I think that was done in the previous administration for politics gimmicks but I have done no groundbreaking, I have done nothing as such and I'll leave it like that."
Courtney Menzies, Interviewer
"When will the school start seeing some development?"
Andre Perez, Area Rep., Belize Rural South
"It has to start early next year. The CEO is scheduled to come and visit. Of course we're transitioning, Minister Fonseca is coming back in but of course he was aware of it and working along with the former minister Requena as well briefing him. And we're schedule for a site visit because the funds have been secured and as I said, if we do not use these funds by next year it will go back into the funds of the IFIs and certainly we will not allow that."
