The EFA 2000 Assessment: Country Reports
Belize

Table 10: Number of Primary Schools by District

Table 11: Primary School Enrollment by Gender by Grade - 1995-96

Clearly, there has been a good deal of success in enrolling children in schools. However, for a number of reasons it will be difficult to achieve a 100% enrolment of the 5 to 14 year olds in school. One reason is the continuing growth of the school age population vis a vis the country's ability to provide school places. Another reason is the lack of participation by many children. A third related reason is that of the incidence of repetition and drop out.

At least two studies have been completed during recent years on the matter of repetition and drop out and results of these studies indicate that these two related issues are significant contributors to the problem of unsatisfactory participation in primary schooling.

The report on INVESTIGATION INTO HIGH RATES OF REPETITION AND DROPOUT IN BELIZE by Allyson Hamel-Smith (1995) contains comments relating to what are considered key issues on the subject:

• Awareness and Beliefs. There is a low level of awareness of the extent and seriousness of the problems of repetition and dropout. Administrators, teachers and students all see dropout as a problem, but the majority have no clear idea as to how serious it is.
• Absence of Consistent Policy. Each school has its own policy of deciding which students repeat. This is generally based on academic performance. Parents are accorded little rights. Furthermore there is little change in the experiences students have when they repeat.
• Language Skills.The report points out that good English language skills are apparent in successful students, suggesting that language skills seem to be closely related to failure at school. It points out that linguistic competence is the single most consistent feature of poor performance by students and it points to deficiencies in teachers/skill in using ESL methodology.
• Special Education Needs. Students who were identified as doing poorly all had special education needs and schools did not know how to respond to this situation.
• Instructional Practice. There are significant discrepancies in beliefs about the effects of instructional style. Teachers do not see this as a factor in school failure. Teachers tend to place the blame on students and families.
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  Table 12: Repetition by Gender and Grade for G & GA Primary Schools – 1993-94

  	MALE……………………………			FEMALE………………………….
  GRADE	Repeaters	% of all Repeaters	As % of Enrollment	Repeaters	% of all Repeaters	As % of Enrollment
  Infant 1	646	57	16.2	481	43	13.0
  Infant 2	365	59	10.6	250	41	7.7
  Std. 1	382	60	11.2	260	40	8.3
  Std. 2	388	60	11.7	259	40	8.3
  Std. 3	298	62	10.1	180	38	6.4
  Std. 4	341	62	11.8	212	38	8.1
  Std. 5	305	58	11.4	218	42	8.9
  Std. 6	290	49	12.7	296	51	12.8
  Total	3015	53	12.1	2156	47	9.2

  Table 13: Repetition by Gender and Grade for G & GA Primary Schools – 1994-95

  	MALE……………………………			FEMALE………………………….
  GRADE	Repeaters	% of all Repeaters	As % of Enrollment	Repeaters	% of all Repeaters	As % of Enrollment
  Infant 1	674	57	16.6	502	43	13.0
  Infant 2	358	58	9.9	259	42	7.7
  Std. 1	332	57	9.7	249	43	7.7
  Std. 2	359	60	10.9	244	40	7.8
  Std. 3	314	64	10	178	36	6.1
  Std. 4	240	56	8.3	186	44	6.8
  Std. 5	299	58	11	221	43	8.9
  Std. 6	252	46	10.4	299	54	12.8
  Total	2828	57	10.9	2138	43	8.9

  Source: Final Report on Gender Study for EDC, 1996-97