Parents know very well how expensive the education can be, but the Ministry of Education has been trying to alleviate that burden providing subsidies, to cover portions of the ever increasing school fees.
It was a major talking point for Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber, during his keynote address at today’s PSE Award Ceremony today. He announced that the Government is now working out the details on how they can expand the initiative. The intention is to try and cover the costs of education for high school students from the time they enter the doors of their chosen school, up until the point when they graduate.
Here’s how Faber explained it to us:
Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister of Education
"We’re pleased to announce a number of subsidies given this year. You know when we started almost a decade ago; there was a very tedious process to apply for the subsidy. You had to submit your parents’ income tax statement forms, all of that. None of that now, in fact 3 of our 6 districts, it is given automatically for the entire district. In the other 3 districts, it’s given in the rural areas, except for the municipalities, and those municipalities, they are interviewed, and we’re pleased to announce that by and large majority of the schools are getting it. Of the 7,015 students who are in standard 6 this year, in excess of 6,000 are being given the subsidies this year, and for us, that’s a great accomplishment. And if you add that to the above 5,000 students who were in 1st form last year, and are transitioning to 2nd, we are at a good 11,000 students who are benefitting from the government’s subsidy initiative, and for us, that is big. You’ve heard that next big move is of course to try to ensure that the subsidy is expanded to 3rd and 4th Form. In some areas, we’re already doing that. In the Toledo District, and in the Stann Creek District, some of our government schools, and right here in Belize City, all the students who will go to Gwen Liz this year, are going to get that subsidy for the entire first form, and it will move up with them all the way through high school."
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