Minister of Education Patrick Faber today signed a memorandum of understanding
with us-aid - the United States Agency for International Development, for the
development of a national school safety policy. According to Minister Faber,
disasters can strike at any time and so schools need to be prepared.
Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
“It is all a part of this initiative of the Ministry to ensure that
classroom and schools are more child friendly and that our children are safe.
I think the earthquake in Haiti has taught us a most invaluable lesson, that
we never know what to expect. Hurricanes as we know, because we are accustomed
to hurricanes in Belize, there is time to prepare but there are disasters out
there that don’t give us much time to prepare including fires and floods
as we have seen in Belize. So we need to ensure that we have our children ready
because disasters may happen at a time when they are in school. Like I said
in my presentation it is more than the physical safety we are concerned about,
we are also hoping that children in their minds can come to school feeling free
of fear of anything and this initiative is very important for us.”
Timothy Callagan, US-AID
“We are engaged in a level of institutional strengthening and building
that will prepare future leaders, children to be competent in disaster risk
reduction and comprehensive school safety is achievable if all the components
are in place and working together.”
US-Aid will primarily be offering technical assistance. There has been
no timeline for completion of the policy.
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