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And while Belize City secondary schoolers learn about examples of positivity, Orange Walk primary schoolers are learning how to farm. Four primary schools in the Orange Walk District are implementing an agriculture program called the urban gardening project. The schools are Louisiana Government School, Carmelita Government School, Santa Martha Government School and Chan Pine Ridge Government School. The project is geared towards teaching primary school age children the importance of farming and the values of growing their own food. Their maestro Marcelino Chi explained how it can help young minds.

Marcelino Chi, The Maestro
“We started last week and I see that my children are really showing effort and they really show that they want to work in agriculture. They really show that they are interested in learning what is agriculture and as you can see here, we’ve already prepared the beds and then we are ready to plant the seeds that we just received.”

Student #1,
“Tomatoes is nice with ceviche.”

Student #2,
“I think it is good because if next pickney do this it will be good because when pickney come out of school they like to go do simpleness. It is best they come wet their plants and dig up the place to make them do something good.”

Student #3,
“Agriculture is very good and studying maths, English, and getting a big education but then you have a big education and you don’t know how to build your house. You have a car but you can’t eat your car and you can’t eat your house but you can eat your vegetables and your fruits.”

Marcelino Chi,
“Sometimes students they just think that mathematics and English and science and social studies but now I think that agriculture is very important because children know that from the soil we get the food that we eat everyday and they will be able to use this maybe at home also to plant their own vegetables.”

Minister of Youth Marcel Cardona also handed over gardening tools and seeds. The seeds including cabbage, raddish, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and cucumber were donated by Humana People to People and International Child Aid Organization. This project is a pilot project and Cardona promises it will be implemented in other primary schools in the near future.