Hurricane Lisa cost education sector $3 million as 77 schools damaged

By Aaron Humes: Category One Hurricane Lisa swept through central Belize at the start of November, leaving a wake of damage in most sectors.

Coming as it did in the teeth of the relatively new school year, disruptions were unavoidable in children’s learning. The final estimate of damages has come in according to Minister of Education Francis Fonseca, and it stands at approximately three million dollars, with effects on 77 schools in the Belize and Cayo Districts.

Fonseca shared with reporters on Wednesday that “I think the most significant damage was to the Belize Rural Primary School. Their entire roof was destroyed, so that was significant damage and we had a few other schools at that level. But for the most part, it was medium to low-level damage that occurred, meaning that windows were broken, doors were damaged, flooding and that sort of thing.”

The Ministry tapped into its own resources and relied on others to get schools up and running again while it awaits a response on the assessment from the Government, Fonseca added: “We’ve put that, that assessment has been given over to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but we have not waited, obviously, for those monies to come in. We have been working with various partners so we’ve gotten support from different entities in Belize. We’ve gotten some donations, plus in our own budget we have a few hundred thousand dollars that we have allocated to addressing some of the more urgent needs.”

Most schools reopened within a week despite complaints from the Belize National Teachers’ Union (BNTU) that teachers needed more time, and Fonseca expects that repairs to most schools will take place over the forthcoming Christmas holidays in time for schools to re-open in January.

If for some reason your school was missed – although according to Fonseca the District Education Centers were tasked with visiting each school to assess hurricane damage – you can make a report via the 501 Academy/Teacher Learning Institute portal operated by the Ministry.

Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Belize ~ We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages. Your content is delivered instantly to thousands of users in Belize and abroad! Contact us at mаrkеtіng@brеаkіngbеlіzеnеwѕ.соm or call us at 501-612-0315.

© 2022, BreakingBelizeNews.com. Content is copyrighted and requires written permission for reprinting in online or print media. Theft of content without permission/payment is punishable by law.