Minister of Education Visits Our Schools

On November 6 and 10, the Minister of Education, the Honorable Patrick Faber, visited Trinity and St. Luke schools respectively. He was nearing the end of his nationwide tour of schools and shared a good message with the children about the importance of staying in school and receiving a good education to be independent and have good jobs. He also had all children make a pledge of nonviolence in light of the recent increase in crime in Belize. Minister Faber also spoke to the teachers about the significance the current government is placing on teacher training to strengthen the entire education system.

Each of the schools' different divisions prepared special items to perform for the Minister and the officials who traveled with him. They also planned a formal program for students and teachers to share remarks. At Trinity, our principal made an impromptu decision to bring the entire staff up to introduce everyone. A few days after the visits, a Ministry official contacted the principal asking if she could meet with her and the Peace Corps Volunteer to plan a training session on the new language arts curriculum, since she'd mentioned Ginnie works on literacy education with the teachers. Needless to say, Ginnie was pretty excited for the opportunity and quickly asked to have Anthony included. We'll be working on trainings for each division to present in January and February. We're pretty excited for the opportunity to work directly with the Ministry of Education, in fact, when the initial meeting took place with the principal, she shared a literacy schedule we worked on for the school and now we will be using that frame as our basis for structuring the training and for teachers to use as their model for planning their language arts time schedule! Situations such as this always remind us of how amazing it is to work in such a small country where a simple introduction can turn into a major project with a huge potential for impact!

Here are some pictures of the visits:

This is just too cute not to share!

The girls of Standard IV at Trinity

The pikni mi geh a lee restless

Look at those cute lee Infant I students

Introducing the staff of Trinity Methodist School

A dance performance by Standard II & III students

Minister of Education, Honorable Patrick Faber delivering his address

Yeah, she's adorable

Students of St. Luke Methodist School prepare for the visit

Chillin' on the veranda

What a great smile

Minister Faber making his way to deliver his speech along with principal and vice principals of St. Luke School

The children of St. Luke looking fabulous in their lavender and white

The choir sings for the honored guests

And now, more pictures from St. Luke, showing off the pikni!

Girls dancing and boys drumming for the occassion

The Minister's address for St. Luke children and staff

Some samera shy Infant I students

"Oh sun...please go away for just a lee bit!"

Standard III ladies striking a pose

Hey, Mr. Anthony, look at us!

One of the 25 teachers at the school strikes a pose