Well known educator releases “Education in Belize; A historical Perspective

He is no stranger in the field of education with experiences that span forty years and now J Alexander Bennett, has put together a well researched book of the many challenges and advances in our education system. It is a book that is a good source of reference that documents the evolution of the educational system from the days of colonial rule to the present. Jose Sanchez has more on this new publication.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting
The education of Belizeans is one of the most paramount factors in determining and shaping the course of the country’s future. A good education also helps to keep families out of poverty. So it is significant that J. Alexander Bennett, an experienced educator, has chronicled two hundred years of development of academic education in his book Education in Belize: A Historical Perspective.

Jose Sanchez
“What inspired you to write this text?”

J. Alexander Bennett, Author
“Well, I have been a lifelong educator and I have worked with teachers and the training of teachers for many years and along the way, because I have done a great bit of research on the history of education in Belize, I decided that I would draw all the information I had together and put it into book form.”

Herman Byrd, Director of Archives
“Well, first of all, I think its an excellent overview of the entire system of education in Belize; from the founding of the first primary school in 1816 up to like the last decade of the twentieth century. and its good to have that kind of a comprehensive book, especially one single volume with that very comprehensive overview, should be very excellent for teachers, for students, for policy makers, to have that kind of thing close at hand.”

Jose Sanchez
“Is there any significant or particular changes that you were drawn to read about?”

Herman Byrd
“I was very interesting in the treatment of educational reform in the 1930s. I think the summary of what was contemplated rings a very contemporary note. There was hardly an issue that was considered in the 1930s in the so called B.H. Eastern report that we haven’t’ struggled with in education since. So it’s good to go back and see what was the assessment, what was recommended and what were the attempts to act on those recommendations.”

And though Bennett has written about the past, he also has some suggestions on the direction that education should take us tomorrow.

J. Alexander Bennett
“Well for one thing, we should seek to develop an educational system that will provide for a reasonably good level of education for all primary school children as well as for secondary school students. But I do understand that the economy has not been that well developed and so we may have some time to go but we should be working with all our strength at improving our primary school system so that children from there all can move on to secondary school. But it will take some reform because in every country where all children go to primary and secondary education there has to be a differentiation among the children as to who goes where so that there would be some who go to academic schools, some to IT-Vet or to other types of schools, depending on their intellectual ability, their personalities and so on.”

Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.