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.