Education Too Expensive Under the UDP

Dear Editor,

Allow me some space in your newspaper to voice my frustration on the issue of education costs in this country. It annoys me to hear our Minister of Education always boasting on the radio about how much he is doing for education and how better off the system is since the UDP got into power.  He seems to pat his shoulder every time he has the opportunity to be in a public forum…he does this so often that he is really beginning to believe himself.

Today however, I write on behalf of a neighbour who has five children of school age. She is a single parent and this summer she is going through the worst time ever. Think about it, she is working as a domestic during the week where she earns $150.00 per week Monday to Friday. On the weekends she takes in washing and ironing and she takes about another $100 depending on how much washing and ironing she can get done between Saturday and Sunday.  She gets $400.00 per month for child maintenance leaving her with a monthly income of approximately $1,000.00. This she earns working from Sunday to Sunday.

She was telling me the other day that she is about to go crazy with all the school fees, uniforms and books that she has to cope with this summer. Both her elder children now go to high school and the fees are required to be paid up front.  She says that there is no way she can afford to do that, so she believes these children will have to drop out of second and third form. The other three children are primary school children and they also have to pay some school fees and have to get uniforms, books etc.  Can you imagine how much this poor lady has at the end of the month after she pays food, water, electricity and rent? It is a miracle she has enough to feed these children. And as he said, with a little help form relatives here and there.

When asked if she gets any assistance from the Ministry of Education, she commented that trying to get the so called education grant is a waste of time as you have to be politically connected to eventually get it. She said she wasted all of last year trying to get assistance from her area representative in the South-side of Belize who is a minister. It never came through.

Believe me, every where you go you hear the same cry all over the country. Where are we going to get the monies to send our children to school? Parents are in a fix right now trying to ensure that they can squeeze out all their savings, beggings and anything else to ensure that the children attend school. About a month ago, a child who was graduating from primary school asked he question as to where would 11,000 Belizean children go. He was referring to the 11,000 children who would not have the opportunity to get a high school education.

Education in Belize has seized to be accessible, equitable and affordable. It is now a luxury to get an education in Belize and even after you’ve invested so much on education, there is no guarantee that you will be able to find a job when you’re finished. The cost of education is prohibitive to most Belizeans and this is one of he major contributing factors to the increase in crime facing the nation today. For as long as we do not invest in education, our children will grow to be unproductive citizens and will turn to being criminals.

Minister of Education, we need to start walking the walk and stop talking the talk. Our children need to get into the school system and be educated to become productive citizens. As long as we continue to have 11,000 children not going into secondary education, our Government and our Ministry of Education will continue to fail us as a people. It would have failed to deliver one of the basic human rights of a child…the right to education.

Sincerely,

Janice Longsworth

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