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Ministry of Education Launch National Accreditation Council

Today, the Ministry of Education took a milestone step that has been almost two decades in the making. The ministry officially launched its National Accreditation Council. According to the legislation that accompanies the establishment of the council, its primary function is to improve and maintain the quality of education being offered in Belize. The National Accreditation Council Act lists a total of eighteen functions towards improving education in Belize. News Five’s Paul Lopez tells us more.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

The Ministry of Education today officially launched the National Accreditation Council of Belize. According to Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry, Dian Maheia, the establishment of such a council has been in the pipeline for the past eighteen years. She explained that its role is to ensure that the quality of education delivered in our country meets the highest standards.

Dian Maheia, Chief Executive Officer, MOECST

“We have to have the answers when people ask us, what are you doing, where do you want to go, how is it going, where are you going next? Those answers have to come from us. We can’t get those answers if we don’t engage meaningfully in the work we do, the work of education, the thinking work, the planning work, the vision work, as much as the day to day work. Every person in this room, I think, has lived that, where you have to divide your responsibilities. You have to spend some time doing the day-to-day work, managing, checking papers, making plans, signing off on things, that is important. You don’t accomplish anything if you don’t do that. But you also have to spend some time doing the thinking, the planning, to understand ok, what did we actually accomplish.”

The National Accreditation Council is tasked with promoting the advancement of education in Belize. It is also charged with maintaining and improving quality standards in education to protect the interests of students. Furthermore, the council will facilitate the free movement of skilled professionals across the CARICOM region via the CSME. Legislation to realize the council was enacted almost two decades ago. It was amended earlier this year.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“That Act defines accreditation as follows. Accreditation is a status granted to educational institutions or program by a competent authority ion the basis of an informed evaluation, indicating that the program and courses offered by an institution and its awards meet or exceeds stated criteria of educational quality. The functions of the council shall be to promote the advancement of education in Belize, to ensure the quality of education delivered in Belize meets the standards set by the council for the qualifications and certificates conferred and that the appropriate standards are being maintained and improved to protect the interest of students and to promote the free movement of skills across the region. I wanted to share with you some of the key responsibilities of the council. Registering the institutions, both local and foreign which offers courses in Belize, maintain a register of approved institutions, providers and courses, accrediting and recrediting programs and institutions. Validating new courses and programs of institutions operating in Belize.”

The National Accreditation Council will be an eleven-member board of directors. The board will comprise of three representatives from tertiary institutions, two from professional associations involved in educations, one from the Belize Chamber of Commerce, another from the Belize Tourism Board and one representative from the Ministry of Education. Additionally, the minister will nominate two members. An executive director will also be appointed to lead the day-to-day operations.

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of State, Ministry of Education

“Now we must go beyond having all our children in school. We must ensure that while they are in school that they receive a quality education. Otherwise, if we are not providing the quality they need they may end up going out there and perpetuating a situation where we are not getting the quality of students we need, which has been our experience. This is an important step towards sustainable human development for our country. We might not see these things when we might say we have an investment summit, and we are bringing in millions dollars. This time we are talking about strengthening our institutions. For example, when we strengthen our judiciary or strengthen our systems in the police force. This is now strengthening our systems in the education sector.”

Dian Maheia

“This morning one of you said, but now the work really starts. That is true. And that is great that we recognize that, because if we think that the work is done. Then we are in trouble. We didn’t have people who started this eighteen years ago and we are just going to bring everybody together, and clap when the ministers talk and get those lovely mugs and go home and think we are done. We are not done; we are just beginning.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

G.O.B. and N.G.O.s to Form Task Force to Review Amendments to PACT Act

About a month ago, the Association of Protected Areas Management Organization (APAMO) called for a meeting with the prime minister to seek his intervention, following amendments to the National Protected Areas Systems Act and the PACT Act. APAMO felt that a proper consultative process was not followed. The P.M. met with the N.G.O. on Monday during which both sides established a working group comprising of representatives from both the government and conservation non-governmental organizations. The body will spearhead the revision of the National Protected Areas Systems Act and the Protected Areas Conservation Trust Act. APAMO’s Vice Chair, Amanda Acosta told News Five that there is still a clear definitive course to be charted moving forward.

Amanda Acosta, Vice Chair, APAMO

“The task force does not have a terms of reference yet. It is anticipated that at the first meeting we will have that conversation as to what exactly will be the deliverables. Um, there, for instance, pact, um, there were more things that could have been added to amendments within the act and they were not mentioned. Um, however, we have been given the kind of green light to have these conversations now. The timeline is actually very short. It’s three months. That’s what the prime minister has indicated to us.”

Isani Cayetano

“What has been, perhaps, the reception of the membership of APAMO, now that there has been, um, with the Prime Minister to address some of these concerns that were raised recently?”

Amanda Acosta

“So, I think we are cautiously optimistic. I think we have gotten the audience that we were desiring and the government has extended it actually because if we look at their press release, they have also invited the Marine Protected Areas Network to be a part of the working group, task force, sorry. As well as BNN, but specifically an environmental NGO. So, we have, um, gotten to a point where I think we can be at the table. However, internally we will still have to have internal communications to make sure the correct message from the membership of those entities is, um, highlighted at the task force level.”

Badly Decomposed Body Discovered Off Lark Caye

This morning, the badly decomposed body of a male person was discovered along the shores of Lark Caye, just off the coast of the Placencia Peninsula. Information to News Five is that the owner of the island along with several individuals took a trip to the island today. While there a couple men from the group came across the unidentified body. We are told that local authorities were immediately informed of the discovery. As a result, a team of police and coast guard officers visited the scene and transported the body to the mainland. Video captured near a pier in Placencia shows authorities placing the body in the back of a police mobile, before it was carted off. An official police report is yet to be released. We will continue to follow this discovery.

Police Department Destroys $452,000 Worth of Cannabis

Today, the Belize Police Department carried out the destruction of over five hundred pounds of cannabis. The drugs were seized during a police operation earlier this month in Dangriga Town. The operation led to the discovery of several barrels containing the cannabis. With the approval of the Dangriga Magistrate Court, the drugs were destroyed at an undisclosed location. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Doctor Richard Rosado says it all comes in at a total value of four hundred thousand dollars.

Dr. Richard Rosado, Deputy Commissioner of Police

“In Accordance twenty-seven, one of the Misuse of Drugs Subsidiary Act Chapter One Zero Three of the laws of Belize, an application was made to the court to the Magistrate in Dangriga for an order for the destruction of five hundred and three point seven pounds of cannabis. The Magistrate having being satisfied that destroying the drugs can proceed without prejudice to any criminal proceedings granted the order.”

Reporter

“Why is it important what we are doing here today and the significance of it?”

Dr. Richard Rosado

“The regulation twenty-seven two stipulates that whenever there is an order for the drug destruction that a magistrate must witness the destruction, a justice of the peace, a senior police officer and the government forensic chemist. This is done in order to ensure that what is being destroyed is what was actually seized in the operation in Dangriga. The estimated value of the drugs being destroyed today is approximately four hundred and fifty-two thousand dollars.”

What does the future hold for the start of the 2024-2025 Sugar Crop?

On Wednesday, we heard from the Director of Finance, Shawn Chavarria, on a record high second payment for sugarcane farmers. At the end of the 2023, 2024 season just over one million tons of sugarcane was delivered to the mill from which one hundred and two thousand tons of sugar were produced. But what does the future hold for the start of the 2024, 2025 season given the less-than-ideal start to the last season? That question was posed to Chavarria. Here is what he had to say.

Shawn Chavarria, Director of Finance, ASR/ BSI

“I think the probability for a smooth start for the coming 2024-2025 crop is looking more favorable. The agreement signed with the B.S.C.F.A. in January was for two crops, not just one. So, there is a better chance that there will be a smoother start this year, weather permitting. I think more you will see a challenge for the 2025-2026 crop if an agreement is not reached with the B.S.C.F.A. But, I think for this upcoming crop, it is looking more favorable that we should be able to have a smooth start without any interruptions, providing the weather is cooperating.”

Elijah Noralez Eyes America’s Got Talent

The Bliss Center for the Performing Arts will come alive next week Tuesday night for KTV the Remix Season Six finale. Three contestants battled it out on stage this past Tuesday. Fans have up until Sunday to vote for their favorite contestant. The winner will be announced at the finale. Ahead of that show, we will be featuring each of the three finalists in our nightly newscast to learn more about who they are and their musical journey. News Five’s Paul Lopes travelled down to Harmonyville today to speak with Elijah Noralez. He brings us that story.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Twenty-four-year-old Elijah Noralez is one of the three finalists in KTV the Remix Season Six. Today, we stopped by his Harmonyville residence to learn more about his passion for music and his journey in this year’s competition.

Elijah Noralez, KTV the Remix Finalist

“I use to sing on the way to preschool. My aunty use to tell me that all the time. I use to sing the whole entire trip to preschool and that is probably where that started. I think that comes from a long line of musicians and musically inclined people in my family. My dad said he use to sing to us when we were in the womb. So, from I was very young and just the lineage, I think that is how I started.”

As Elijah tells it, he was born into a family of musicians. He says that his sister Alysia Noralez was his biggest inspiration growing up. In this video, a young Elijah and his sister are captured in a recording studio singing their rendition of I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. Here, that same young talent is taking on the Jackson 5’s Who’s Lovin You.

Paul Lopez

“Do you recall those moments growing up singing with your sister and your family?”

Elijah Noralez

“Yeah, I think those would be some of the most memorable moments in my childhood. We have done a lot of small stuff on TV and a lot of stuff. We have been on the stage before. She was the one that brought me into this singing thing. She is really the one that influenced me the most.”

Elijah says he spent time developing his voice singing in church. And, after several years of contemplating whether he should send in his application to be a contestant on KTV the Remix, he finally decided that season six was the opportune time.

Elijah Noralez

“I was giving up on singing around the age of sixteen to eighteen. It is not something I would generally pushed in Belize. It is something that I just backed off on. I was not singing at all. I said let us do this thing, so how we can go from here. It has been successful. I think I have gathered a lot of support and I am thankful for that. I have done a lot of small karaoke events, Double O’s Restaurant, Millers Depot, and OI have a lot of people bombarding me with text saying I want to vote for you, how do I vote, sending money and stuff like that. It has been a journey. Being in that battle round is nothing nice, because you could get a song you cant sing and you just get eliminated right there and then. The whole dream is cut short. I knew that week I was going to be in the battle round because I couldn’t do any karaoke because my voice was messed up.”

Off the stage and away his job at Acquity BPO, Elijah Noralez can be found with a weedwhacker or machete in hand working on his family’s farmland. He told us about the most fulfilling and the most challenging parts of his KTV the Remix journey.

Elijah Noralez

“Just the words of encouragement that people bring. People are telling me that you should just be full on take this on as a career, the messages, the support is so overwhelming, nothing like I have ever experienced before.”

Paul Lopez

“For you what has been one of the greatest challenges?”

Elijah Noralez

“I am very anxious about a lot of stuff. Sometimes I struggle with a lot of anxiety. So to perform in front of a lot of people. When I was young, I use to stand up with my hand in my pocket and I sing. Going from that I feel has been a very, it has been scary, because people make fun of you and it is a bit scary, I don’t like negative feedback, so that has been one of the hardest things for me.”

Andazi Panton, KTV The Remix Jude

“I will keep saying, you just do not imitate. You are always yourself. That is something that is so very special about you.”

Elijah Noralez

“For me it is not much of a show. It is just to captivate the people with my voice and see how I can get them to feel the song. It is not about the stuff around, the background noise. It is just so you can hear and feel the song. When I am up there I am feeling the song. It is going through me and I am feeling all these emotions.”

Elijah says if he wins KTV the Remix Season Six, he will use the ten thousand dollars cash prize to pursue a bachelor’s degree, purchase equipment to build a music studio or invest the money in taking a shot at America’s Got Talent.

Elijah Noralez

“People think I am cocky. The way I present myself on stage and the way I answer questions, it is not to be cocky. It is just to entice people and entertain. People think I have vocal training, I don’t. this is all just me listening to YouTube, listening to my mom and dad. Just listening to people around me. I have a lot of confidence in what I am able to do but I am also open to the criticism and stuff like that.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

N.T.U.C.B. Criticizes Government’s Purchase of $6.9M Private Land

The National Trade Union Congress of Belize is taking the Briceño administration to task over the purchase of a fifteen-acre tract of land to be used as the site for the controversial university hospital. A pair of documents leaked to the media today shows that the parcel in question was purchased from the Reconstruction and Development Corporation (RECONDEV) in July 2018, for a fraction of what businessman Kenny Zheng is now fetching for the property from a sale to the Government of Belize. The land, acquired jointly by Zheng and Annie Hong Zu, was bought for four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That very same spread is now being sold to the Ministry of Natural Resources for an astronomical figure of roughly seven million dollars. The umbrella union is up in arms over this recent discovery when it visited the Lands Department earlier today. News Five spoke by phone with N.T.U.C.B. President Luke Martinez.

On the phone: Luke Martinez, President, N.T.U.C.B.

“It’s not about an N.T.U.C.B. position. It’s not about the government’s position, it is about what needs to happen. What needs to happen is that the government signed and agreed to a motion, the house and eena di senate to acquire the money to build a hospital on U.B. campus. So anything other than that we noh di support. But along with not supporting that, we are finding out a lot of craziness that are occurring. So this morning in our research, doing our own due diligence apart from what’s in the media, we found out that the government, well we found out that the businessmen purchased the parcels from RECONDEV in 2018 for six hundred and ten thousand dollars. From 2018, to now, you’ve covered and you’ve seen other outlets covered the condition of the place and surrounding areas, no development and the government is paying six point nine million dollars for something that the business owner paid six hundred and ten thousand dollars for. So the government needs to explain to the people. They are coming on the media to talk about their technocrats, but they can’t show who are their technocrats. So di government just di bullsh*t the people mi bredda. That is what is happening.”

Union Says, “Build the University Hospital on U.B. Land”

According to Martinez, the N.T.U.C.B.’s investigation into the sale of the property has revealed that title has not been transferred to the Government of Belize. He says that the union has met with its attorneys, as well as other real estate agents who are also looking into the matter.

On the phone: Luke Martinez, President, N.T.U.C.B.

“We can’t say it any, any other way. We also found out that the land hasn’t been transferred to the government as yet and we are getting down to the bottom of whether the government has made payment to the businessman.”

Isani Cayetano

“As the trade union congress, with all this information that you are armed with, what is the union’s move in terms of trying to bring awareness to what seems to be the government attempting to pull the wool over the government’s eye?”

Luke Martinez

“We are very open and transparent with the information that we receive, and we are prepared to share what we’ve uncovered with the general public. As a matter of fact, we welcome the media to witness firsthand us doing our research at the Ministry of Natural Resources. We just want to remind the government that the N.T.U.C.B. also has technocrats. We had a meeting last night with our attorneys. We had meetings last night with trained and practicing real estate agents and so we have technocrats looking at this also from that side who are seeing and agreeing that the government is bullsh*tting people.”

Former P.M. Further Explains Compulsory Acquisition

On Tuesday, we spoke with former Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who provided legal insight on how the government could have gone about obtaining the property in question through compulsory acquisition. Part of that process includes the establishment of a compensation tribunal to be led by a judge of the High Court. Here’s how Senior Counsel Barrow explains the composition of that tribunal.

Dean Barrow, Former Prime Minister

“The landowner deprived now of his private property will seek compensation and a tribunal must be set up which will consider the issue of compensation, will hear from the landowner, will hear from the government. Each side will no doubt produce some sort of a valuation from a professional. The tribunal will weigh the facts carefully and will ultimately decide on what is the view of the tribunal, the proper quantum of compensation to be awarded to the landowner. Under the tribunal, the chairmanship or the chair of the tribunal is to be a judicial officer, somebody from the High Court, government will nominate, appoint a second member and the landowner will nominate the third member. So there should be three so that you can’t have any sort of a tie. At the end of the process there clearly will be a majority decision and the landowner will need to abide by that decision. The government will need to abide by that decision, except of course, either one decides to appeal the decision of the compensation tribunal.”

Activist Nigel Petillo Plans Protest in Front of P.M.’s Office

A protest is being organized for Friday morning in front of the Prime Minister’s Office in Belmopan. Activist Nigel Petillo has sent out a call for Belizeans to join him and others in demanding that government reverses the six-point-nine-million-dollar land transaction in Belmopan to construct a new university hospital and to go back to its original plan. That initial plan which was tabled before parliament requires that the hospital be built on U.B. land. We spoke with Petillo today about the planned protest.

Nigel Petillo, Community Activist

“For many times these things happen and all we do is complain and discuss it amongst our peers, spouses our neighbors, but we never really direct it where it needs to be directed. And, in this specific case this has to do with land. This touched me a lot being an activist for almost fifteen years trying to equip poor people with land. It is frustrating to see that the government was able to allocate almost seven million dollars on such a small parcel of land when we could have been doing things like this for a long time now. With seven million dollars I could have almost built a whole village facilitating over a thousand people. Yet when you go to the land department, they tell you there is no land. So, I thought to myself, you know what, I won’t be one of those Belizeans that will just complain. I have always been a man of action. I saw it fit to put together this demonstration. Who come, come. That is how I see it. I can do it by myself. I can go out there and just demonstrate on my own, but I think it is stronger when we have a body of people directing their frustration and anger to the government. Hence the reason why I thought it was very important for us to do a demonstration inviting different members of civil society, individuals, organizations, businesses, anybody who understands the importance of standing up. That is the main reason for this protest.”