BELIZE lies on the East Coast of

Central America “In the Heart of the

Caribbean Basin”

Demographic Bonuses & Challenges

• 8,867 Square Miles• 35 persons per square mile• 54.8% of population is rural• Median Age = 21• 36% under age of 14

DIVERSE ‘R’ US

MESTIZO 52.9%

CREOLE 25.9 %GARIFUNA 6.1%

MAYA 11.3%

ITVETS

BxNVQs/CVQs

105,209

State of Affairs

2 0 0 8 - 2 0 0 9 2 0 0 9 - 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 - 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 2 - 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 5

33.9

%

33.9

%

42.1

%

42.2

%

42.9

%

42.5

%

40.2

%

33.6

%

34.0

%

42.3

%

42.7

%

42.5

%

43.0

%

40.4

%

33.7

%

33.5

%

42.2

%

42.4

%

42.7

%

42.7

%

40.3

%

4.0%

7.8%

3.6%

5.6%

4.0%

1.4%

0.1%

PRE-PR IM A RY N ET EN ROLM EN T RA TES

Male FemaleOverall Total % Change Compared to Previous Year

State of Affairs

2 0 0 8 - 2 0 0 9 2 0 0 9 - 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 - 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 2 - 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 5

82.7

%

82.0

%

95.5

%

96.0

%

92.9

%

90.0

%

87.8

%

84.7

%

81.3

%

94.5

%

94.7

%

91.0

%

87.2

%

84.8

%

83.7

%

81.7

%

95.0

%

95.3

%

92.0

%

88.6

%

86.3

%

0.6%

0.5%

0.5% 3.

3%

-0.7

%

-1.2

%

-0.4

%

Primary net enrolment ratesMale FemaleTotal % Change Compared to Previous Year

State of Affairs

2 0 0 8 - 2 0 0 9 2 0 0 9 - 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 - 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 2 - 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 5

37.4

% 41.5

%

46.6

%

47.2

%

48.2

%

48.4

%

48.5

%

44.1

% 48.3

%

54.0

%

53.6

%

54.3

%

54.8

%

55.7

%

40.7

% 44.9

%

50.3

%

50.4

%

51.3

%

51.6

%

52.1

%

3.0% 4.

6%

2.5% 4.

1%

4.4%

2.3% 3.

0%

Secondary net enrolment ratesMale Female Overall % Change Compared to Previous Year

  2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

% Chang

e

Primary Repetition Rate 6.5% 7.1% 6.8% 6.2% 6.0% -7.7%

Primary Dropout Rate 0.8% 0.8% 0.6% 0.7% 0.7% -12.5%

Secondary Repetition Rate 9.0% 9.1% 7.1% 6.5% 7.6% -15.6%

Secondary Dropout Rate 10.3% 10.1% 8.5% 8.4% 8.6% -16.5%

Repetition and Dropout Rates

State of Affairs• Little evidence of

improvement on performance on exams at end of primary and secondary levels

• Teaching force at all levels largely untrained and much room for improvement in its management

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

21.0% 32.5%20.2% 29.9% 18.5% 21.7% 23.9%

79.0% 67.5%79.8% 70.1% 81.5% 78.3% 76.1%

Figure 11: Student Performance on PSE<50% on PSE ≥50% on PSE

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

44.9%

67.1%

83.6% 81.2%

60.1%71.5%

57.3% 53.7% 58.7%50.2%

43.2% 41.1%

Student Performance on CSEC

Grades I, II, III on English ALinear (Grades I, II, III on English A)Grades I, II, III on MathLinear (Grades I, II, III on Math)

State of AffairsThe church -state system of management and delivery of education fails to reach its full potential and makes a common approach to establishing standards and raising quality difficult to achieve.

The education system of Belize ought to do a lot better.

Access/Retention: Challenges/Gaps & Opportunities

• MEASUREMENT: Problems with measurement

No sense of the value of data and its use

Opportunities: Develop Effective M&E Systems (integrated); move to online data collection (OpenEMIS); develop passion for data and its use

Access/Retention: Challenges/Gaps & Opportunities

SCHOOL PLACES: A case of Running Fast to Stand Still

Opportunities: Achieve efficiencies in educational expenditure, rationalize planning and expenditure, partner with donors, innovate

Access/Retention: Challenges/Gaps & Opportunities

• CULTURAL AND ENTRENCHED BELIEFS & PRACTICES (Parents & Schools)– Special Needs

Students– Girls & Boys– Elitist System

Opportunities: Greater engagement and education of parents, training for teachers and school leaders, greater accountability, shift focus to the school rather than the ministry; incentives

THIS IS EQUALITY THIS IS JUSTICE

Access & Retention: Challenges/Gaps & Opportunities

The desks of Caribbean permanent secretaries are stacked with yellowing consultancy reports. The real question is not the what, but the why? Why, in spite of knowing everything we do, has change not materialized? There are physical and financial constraints and implementation deficiencies, but the overriding constraints are matters of political economy.

-- Avinash Persaud Fostering Growth & Development in Small States through Disruptive Change: A Case Study of the Caribbean.Opportunity: Be strategic (choose your battles), build alliances, recognize capacity constraints, and the absorptive capacity of system

Policy Objectives

Increase Equitable Access At All Levels Of Education

Improve the quality and relevance of education at all levels

Strengthen governance throughout the sector with emphasis on increased student achievement

CDB Support

Sector Diagnosis and Sector StrategyBelize Education Sector Reform Project Phase 1• Strengthening the M&E System• Regulatory Framework Reform• Human Resource Development Strategy• National Qualifications Framework• School Leadership• Systems Leadership• School Mapping

CDB Support Continued

Belize Education Sector Reform Project II• Construction of 35 New Schools• Resource Allocation• Early Stimulation and Emergent Learning Programme• Review and Rationalization of School Feeding Programmes• Determination of Implications of Increasing the Age of

Compulsory Education• Review and Rationalise School Feeding Programmes• Development of Early Identification System to address

Youth at Risk in the Education System

IDB SupportSocial Sector Policy Based Loan• Secondary Education Finance Reform• Belize Teaching Service CommissionEducation Quality Improvement Programme (EQIP)• System for attracting and accepting higher quality entrants into teacher

training.• On-site and distance practical professional development in English, Math

and Science• Capacity-building of the TEIs in their training of primary education

teachers.• Strengthening of the Quality Assurance Role of TEIs• Development of an entry into profession exam for new teacher candidates• School Leadership• Creation of an integrated EMIS (OpenEMIS)• Training and technical assistance to increase parent participation in school

management.

Other Partners & Initiatives• European Union (BAM & AMS)– Support for introducing regional Caribbean

Vocational Qualifications (CVQ) for ITVETS and Technical High schools.

– Purchase of Technical and Vocational Equipment for G/Town Tech HS, ANRI and SC (3 southern Schools)

– Designing Professional Development Training Program for Tech/Voc Teachers

Other Partners & Initiatives

• European Union (BAMS & AMS)– Teacher training at Early Childhood Education and Secondary

School Level (Northern Districts) - AMS 2012 – Bze$2.5M– Construction of 3 preschools in Northern Districts (rural)

Bze$1.25 M• Community Action for Public Safety (CAPS-IDB)– Positive Youth Development Curriculum– Gateway Youth Center

• Youth and Community Transformation (YCT-CDB)– Youth Drop-In Centres

Other Partners & Initiatives

• SIF, USMLO, Japanese Grass Roots Development Fund– Construction of new and expansion of Existing

Schools• UNICEF– Support for various MOE Initiatives including School

Improvement Planning, Positive Discipline in Schools, Framework for Integrated Early Childhood Development Service Delivery, Out of School Study

More Elephant?