Recently published by Gustavo A. Ramirez, a Guidance Counselor and Education Consultant, "scores of 2013 PSE proficiency examinations for Belize Primary school students show that more than 50% of the students are lagging way behind in English/Reading and Math. Moreover, at this point in time Belize has such a high rate of unemployment, and so many of our people are poor, it’s a given that a large part of our young people are NOT adept at using 21st Century technology. This is because only the wealthy could possibly afford to buy computers, and pay expensive internet hook-ups"
Previous studies carried out in Belize show that the high dropout rate of students, especially males, in Belize is connected to the extremely high crime rate throughout the country. In 1965 there were combined as the Belize Teachers' College and given the responsibility of teacher education for the whole country. From 1965 to 1980 the teacher education program increased from one year to three years. During this period other options for teacher education and higher education became available through the opening of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. This period marked an increase all facets of education, enrollment, attendance, expenditures, school buildings, secondary education and teachers.
According to research, "Challenges and Opportunities in the Belize Education Sector" by Emma Näslund-Hadley, Haydee Alonzo and Dougal Martin, the government intends, not only to increase overall enrollment at all levels, but also to reduce the inequalities among districts by 2016. The MOE proposes to increase the preprimary gross enrollment rate from the current 44.3 percent to at least 50 percent in both urban and rural areas by 2016. Most schools are operated under Catholic, Anglican or Methodist denomination. Almost all primary and high schools in Belize use a uniform and have a curriculum similar to one of the United States.
Most of the better schools with fully trained teachers are located in Belize City and the larger towns in the country. In small southern villages, most teachers don’t have formal training and many of the children in these villages don’t even finish primary school. They are taught English but often speak Kriol at home, which eventually imbeds deeper into their language after their critical age.
According to the 2012-2013 statistics released by Belize’s Ministry of Education, there were approximately 105,221 students enrolled from pre-school to university level. Of that amount, 7,400 students were enrolled in pre-school, 68,812 students were enrolled in primary school, 20,539 were enrolled in secondary school, 3,818 were enrolled in junior college and 4,652 were enrolled in university. Higher education is not a priority in Belize as it is in the United States. Most want to learn English so they can get a better job within the tourism industry in Belize.