Email

Print

The programme started last year, and the success since then encouraged an expansion in outreach to communities along the old northern highway. National Coordinator Sheldon Samuels told us there is a need:…

Sheldon Samuels, Coordinator - ASdult and Continiung Education
"We decided at the ministry to extend the program to more than just to the Southside of Belize City but to the country on a whole. We have young people here who would not be able to afford coming to this institution at all. And if it wasn't for the minister of education in terms of saying 'you know what, our business is about creating access, I am going to pay the school fees for all these students' in fact this program is so creative that they don't even need to have text books, everything for these students are photo copied and given to them and we have a night staff who is dedicated, who go beyond to ensure that these students get the necessary information that they need to be successful in this program. Some of these students in this program come from broken homes, they come from single parent and some of them have to work in the day and come to school in the night. They drop out of school and they just realize in their life that they need to come back to school because it matters, so the demographic of these students are wide and between. Some of them are from Belize City; some are from as far as Maskall, Hattieville, Ladyville, they come from all over to be a part of this program."

Andrew Chacon, Chairman - Lucky Strike Village - ACE Student
"I decided because we have a lot of young people out there that don't have the opportunity to go to school. Some of them it's because of finance, some of them it's because they can't go to high school because of their behavior. So I just decided to around and get the students and give them the opportunity, not actually give them but help them. It's the government that is giving them the opportunity to get the education that they deserve. We will have a higher literacy rate in our community first of all. Problems that we have presently; we won't have it; quarrel, once they have understanding and can reason they can make problems roll on easy. My community looks up to me as a leader and I am a part of the program with them. I am helping them get an education and also I am getting an education at the same time."

Sheldon Samuels, Coordinator - Adult and Continuing Education
"This program gives these young people a sense of belonging; it gives them a sense of direction; it give them something to look forward to and these young people come to school every single day motivated to learn. They realize that they have made a mistake and now they are the ones who have to be able to counteract that mistake and so now that they have been given the opportunity to do so I don't think that they will falter."

After completing the ACE programme the students will be awarded a GED which will allow them to be enrolled in the "Opportunity Programme" at a high school or Junior College. Upon the completion of that programme the student will be equipped to pursue an Associate Degree. To date there are two hundred and fifty two students in the programme and they pay 75 dollars per year - the government subsides the rest.