Education

On Thursday, February 22nd, the annual Bowen and Bowen Spelling Bee Belize District Zone Eliminations occurred at the Sagebrush Church Auditorium. The event saw the participation of several schools, including The Island Academy, Ambergris Caye Elementary School, Caye Caulker Roman Catholic, Holy Cross Anglican Primary School, Isla Bonita Elementary School, New Horizon Seventh Day Adventist, and San Pedro Roman Catholic Primary School. Out of all the participating students, three emerged as the top spellers. Valentina Caliz from Holy Cross Anglican School took the third position, followed by Ryan Sanchez from Isla Bonita Elementary School in the second place. Yadier Carillo secured the first position from the Caye Caulker Roman Catholic School.

On Friday, February 16th, the San Pedro Roman Catholic Primary School (SPRCS) joined the 112 Catholic institutions across Belize for the second annual Lighthouse Walk. The parade started shortly after 9AM under the theme "I love my Catholic School" and was a fundraiser for the Belize Catholic Schools' management.

On Friday, February 2nd, the National Assembly of Belize passed legislation to raise Belize’s compulsory education age to 16. Before this, education was mandatory for children between five and 14 years of age. The Education and Training Act of 2011 amendment means that children will be legally required to remain in school until they’re 16.

This 2024 could be the year for Belizean educators to achieve the goal of obtaining a master's degree in U.S. universities while living the experience of teaching in North America, as others Latin educators have done, thanks to the Participate Learning program's call for applications.

On January 12, 2024, the pro-tempore Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Committee (STIAC) was established in Belmopan. Its purpose is to guide the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology (MoECST) in the development of Belize’s first National Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategy (2024-2034). The world has entered the Fourth Industrial Revolution, characterized by robotics, big data, artificial intelligence, and automation. The strategy aims to prepare and move Belize into this new era with the goal of attaining sustainable human development.

On Wednesday, January 10, the San Pedro High School (SPHS) returned to normalcy after months of operating on a shift system because of much-needed maintenance in certain areas of their main building.

While the school year 2023 ends at the San Pedro High School (SPHS), much-needed repairs continue in parts of its main building. Over the past months, emergency repairs have occurred in its staff room, conference room, computer laboratory, and sports room. On Wednesday, December 20th, the school management shared that work has been completed in its Information Technology (IT) laboratory and sports room, while work continues in the other sections mentioned. According to SPHS management, if the reconstruction works continue uninterrupted, class schedules at the school are expected to return to normalcy when classes resume on January 8, 2024.

Since October, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology (MoECST) has been distributing Chromebooks donated by the Republic of China (Taiwan) to primary and high school students in Belize. On Tuesday, December 5th, the distribution of these devices came to San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, benefiting the San Pedro High School (SPHS) and two primary schools.