Category: Children

March first officially kicked off Child Stimulation Month in Belize. This year’s theme is “Small Steps, Big Skills: Unlocking Early Potential,” focusing on promoting early childhood education. To start the month with a bang, preschool children across the country took part in a lively career day parade. News Five’s Paul Lopez was in the streets of Belize City to cover the event. Here’s his report.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

March is celebrated as Child Stimulation Month in Belize, and to kick off the festivities, preschool children across the country joined in a vibrant parade. In Belize City, the turnout was fantastic, with kids dressed up as healthcare workers, police officers, lawyers, military pilots, and more. Leading the parade were members of the Belize City Council, including Mayor Bernard Wagner, marching right behind the Belize Defense Force Marching Band.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“It is about reimagining oneself. How we grew up in the sixties and seventies is different from how the kids are growing up in the twenty-first century. Technology and innovation is driving everything. You will see A.I, the leaps and bounds it has introduced even in the teaching environment. So, the kids of today are much more skilled, have more technological savviness. They want to learn and being a government and a city council, we try to engage them as much as we possibly can.”

We also spoke with several parents who joined in today’s activities with their children. Britney Nunez shared her thoughts on why this day is so important.

Britney Nunez, Parent

“Children awareness month is very important. Like you can see there is police, B.D.F., doctors. So, they can know that they are our future. They will become our future police, doctors, officers, so they can protect us on the longer stretch. I wah fight for anything he want to be. If he want to be a police I will fight for him. If he want to be a baller, a captain, it doesn’t matter. I will fight for him to become something good in life.”

Kishana Lacroix marched side by side with one of the nation’s future medical doctors. We asked her to share her vision for the future of Belize and what she hopes it will be like for her child and children all over the country.

Kishana Lacroix, Parent

“When I think about the future, I really want the parents to show that self-sacrificing love for their kids and to be sure that they empower them. The thing is we have been thought culturally to keep them under that stern way of whereby we are restricting the children from being who they are and be free to be who they want to be and we want to lead them in the correct path right.”

The kids from Wesley Preschool were all decked out in law enforcement uniforms. Even the teachers joined in the fun, swapping their usual outfits for military uniforms.

Karistan Harris-Dawson, Teacher, Wesley Preschool

“I am making sure that everything is going good on this route, making sure is well dressed and well hydrated.”

Paul Lopez

“Talk to me about the theme.”

Karistan Harris-Dawson

“Well the theme tells us that we need to be here for our babies, little steps, big dreams and we teachers need to be there for our children. So, who better to be there than us.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez

Thirty-five years ago, Belize ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention was mandated by the UN General Assembly and Belize was the fifth country in the world to ratify the convention. Since then, we have passed several legislations that protect the rights of children, promote their advancement and create opportunities to uphold these rights. To celebrate the occasion, UNICEF teamed up with government ministries to host a ceremony with the theme: “Keeping the Promise: For Every Child, Every Right, A Belize Fit for Children 2025 and Beyond.” News Five’s Marion Ali was present and filed this report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

It’s been thirty-five years since Belize ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Over the three and a half decades, there have been significant measures taken to protect the rights of children and to promote their wellbeing and advancements.

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Human Development

“The progress that Belize has made towards fulfilling its obligations under the CRC reflects not only our legal commitments but also our deep moral responsibility to safeguard and promote the rights of every child in our nation. As a country, Belize ratified the C.R.C. in 1990, recognizing the inherent dignity and equal rights of all children. And acknowledging the necessity of ensuring their protection, development and wellbeing. Over the years, we’ve implemented the core principles of the C.R.C, focusing on non-discrimination, the best interest of the child, the rights to survival, to life and development, and the child’s right to be heard.”

Minister of Human Development, Dolores Balderamos-Garcia says Belize’s efforts lies in strong legislative reforms, innovative policy frameworks and enhanced mechanisms for child protection and developments.

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

“Key milestones: legislative reforms as Adele told us, the Families and Children Act, the Criminal Code Amendment of 2014 which introduced neutral protections for children and expanded the definitions of abuse and exploitation; the evidence act, allowing children to testify without experiencing trauma, and of course we looked at the road map to ending child marriage and early unions, challenging harmful cultural norms and empower young girls in particular.”

UNICEF is an agency of the UN that protects the rights of children globally. It does so by assisting governments to live up to the commitment they have made towards this goal. Communications Officer, Stephanie Daniels shared with News Five some of the plans that have been put into action and others that are to follow in 2025.

Stephanie Daniels, Communications Officer, UNICEF

“What UNICEF does is on the invitation of the government, it comes into a country and it supports the efforts of the country, helping the country to meet the national goals that they have set for children, providing technical resource, sometime financial resource, as well as leverage our networks, because UNICEF exists in 196 countries. So our role is as a development partner to the government, ensuring that the things we want for our children can be achieved and that whatever is required to support that effort, we provide.”

UNICEF is in its sixth program cycle heading into 2025 and education and curriculum reform are a big part of its program document. CEO at the Ministry of Education, Dian Maheia shared that the ministry has introduced instruments that are on par with the requirements of the Convention.

Dian Maheia, C.E.O., Ministry of Education

“The competency-based education, there’s so many of the values and principles are absolutely matching to the values and the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They’re the same. We’ve seen that early childhood education, making sure we’re reaching our three-year-olds and four year olds is so important. We started a program called Think Equal that actually supports the teaching of socio-emotional learning through books. These things all matter.  We also have on 501 Academy, something else that is directly linked to the C.R.C: The Inclusion Corner.  The Inclusion Corner is so important to so many of our schools, our students and our families countrywide. Four years ago, one of the things that we heard the most often was that we can’t access anybody for special ed. We don’t know how to get help. We don’t know what to do. In reality, we still have a very small human resource base. We don’t have a lot of officers, but what we did in creating the Inclusion Corner on 501 Academy was we set up a place where resources become accessible.”

Adele Catzim, C.E.O at the Ministry of Human Development, noted several other accomplishments that Belize realized since signing onto the Convention, including eliminating corporal punishment at schools. Marion Ali for News Five.

Gender-based violence remains a serious issue, with studies revealing that one in three women has faced physical or sexual violence. In 2023 alone, over fifty-one thousand women were killed by partners or family members. Belize has also witnessed some shocking incidents in 2024. To combat this, the National Women’s Commission launched its Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence last week. As part of their events, they held an education fair today aimed at empowering children on this critical issue. News Five’s Paul Lopez has more on this story.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Just over a week ago, the National Women’s Commission kicked off its Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence with the theme #NoExcuses. They’ve planned a series of events over these sixteen days. Today’s focus was on empowering children to help end gender-based violence. Primary school students from across the city gathered at The Hub, where representatives from various NGOs and government departments engaged with them. Stacie Gladden, a program officer at the commission, was also present.

Stacie Gladden, Program Officer, NWC

“We are here celebrating the sixteen days of activism, ensuring that we ensure that information is being shared when it comes to relationships, what one should accept from what they shouldn’t accept, especially seeing in our country the rise in domestic violence has been on, it is going up. So, we are trying our best to put the information out there.”

The Safe Belize Project provides lessons on what human trafficking is and how to spot it. Eve Banks, the Community Engagement Officer, emphasizes that this information needs to be simplified so children can understand it.

Eve Banks, Community Engagement Officer, Safe Belize Project

“We need to break it down as simple as possible, because having some of the terms, like vulnerability they might not know and recruiting, harboring and servitude, as simplified as possible just so they could know what human trafficking is. For example, we would say it is something mommy can do even if you are not comfortable with it, and she is getting the money and know you know that you should be getting, even though you should not be out there working under the age of eighteen, especially for someone that you know is not, and especially things that are against your will.”

We spoke with thirteen-year-old Elsworth Logan from James Garbutt S.D.A Primary School. He was particularly intrigued by women entrepreneurs who were present representing their business.

Elsworth Logan, Student, Jamez Garbutt Primary

“I went to the woman’s booth, and I learnt that you don’t need get yourself low about starting a business. You just need to get something, like one little opportunity and take it because it could be your first and last. That is basically that women don’t have to pressure themselves starting a business and it is very easy. It is about connecting with other women and talking about starting their businesses and how to start it and when to start it.”

The Ministry of Health and Wellness set up a booth to teach kids how to avoid catching or spreading the flu. They also shared tips on nutrition and physical exercise. Some kids even got to show off their strength by doing planks.

Shadrack Ariola, District Health Educator, HECOPAB Unit

“Living health is more than just the nutritional part. Living healthily has to do with emotional health and mental health. Gender-based violence, while you might be eating healthy, you might be stressed out, emotionally burdened but what you are going through. Living healthily encompasses the whole spectrum. It is more than just eating well and physical exercise, we also have to take care of our emotional and mental needs. That has to mean sometime tackling gender-based violence.”

For eleven-year-old Shania Lamb, a student at Saint Luke Methodist Primary School, being present at today’s event taught her valuable lessons on women empowerment.

Shania Lamb, Student, St. Luke Methodist

“I went to gender booth, and they taught us about the different genders, ladies having kids, boys, girls, twins and they taught us about different abuses and emotions and people’s feelings and how you can hurt them really much. We learnt about how women can stand up for themselves, open business of their own, just with a little bit of hope and encouragement.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.