ICT EDUCATION IN BELIZE
Figure 11 - ICT in Secondary Education in Belize by District
Number of
Students
Number of
Computer Labs
Number of
Computers
Most common
Internet
bandwidth
Belize
6,130
24
474
512
Cayo
3,726
13
386
1MB
Orange Walk
1,932
6
107
512
Corozal
1,786
5
124
1MB
Stann Creek
1,985
6
199
512
Toledo
1,639
3
75
512
Total
17,198
57
1,365
District
Source: Telephone interviews and surveys and the Belize 2010 Housing and Population Census
Figure 11 above provides an indication of the pervasiveness of computers and computer
labs in the secondary schools of Belize.3 The data is presented broken down by the six major
districts of Belize. It indicates that Belizean high schools have about one computer for every
12 students. They also have an average of about one computer lab per high school as there
are about 57 high school computer labs in the country. Most of the high schools in Belize
are located in urban areas; therefore, most have access to the Internet.
There is recognition that the rural population is “under-served” in terms of ICT in education in
Belize. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has strongly underlined the importance of utilizing
distributed and e-learning as an important means to overcome the current educational divide
between the cities and municipalities, on the one hand, and the villages on the other
(personal communication, Kevin Harris, 15th March 2011). Yet the application of an elearning strategy to bridge the educational divide still demands the articulation of a policy
and strategy on how villages in rural areas are to be technologically supported.
The aggressive introduction of ICT for education requires not only a strong technological
backbone but also a strong pedagogical one. ICT in education requires the appropriate skills
3
Most Belizeans still get their first formal computer class at a high school and not at a primary school. Data
regarding computers in primary schools were not available at the time of the writing of this report;
however, it is widely believed that most primary schools in Belize do not have internet service or computer
labs.
Belize ICT National Strategy
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