Ministry of Education Aims to Reduce Dropout Rates with Free Education Initiative

The Ministry of Education hopes that its free education initiative will lessen the number of students who drop out of school each year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the four GEMS Schools in Belize City experienced a sharp increase in dropouts, which were attributed to several factors. Minister of Education, Francis Fonseca, says that over the last two years, his ministry has been working hard to provide students from marginalized communities with the resources they need to stay in school. 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education: “As you may know we have an entire project that’s focused on that called the “Education Upliftment Project Together We Rise” you know we’ve started on the south side of Belize City, we’ve expanded to the south of the country and we’re expanding to other areas as well and the whole objective behind that is to focus on getting these young marginalized young people back into school and to ensure that those who are already enrolled in school do not drop out. So there is a comprehensive program focused on that, very, very important.”