Many of my friends and colleagues will tell you that I hold technical/vocational education close to my heart. That is in large part because I spent a little over two decades at the Belize Technical College (BTC) after teaching at two of the leading girls’ schools in Belize City. My last two years at BTC that ended in 2000, I served as principal. In that year, the institution amalgamated with four others to become the University of Belize (UB). In retrospect, many stakeholders, including myself, since have reflected that the Belize Technical College might have better served many students of the type it used to reach out to, had it gone the route of a polytechnic institute given the achievements BTC had gained up to that point. But the die had been cast.
Therefore, I was pleased to observe, now in 2011, as I walked around the Mopan Technical High School campus in Benque Viejo del Carmen—where I had taught Peace Corps Volunteers back in the eighties—first and second form students, both girls and boys, working in the field, learning how to maintain a garden bed from sowing to harvesting, to identify tools of the trade, and to prepare and manage soil and organic material. Not far from the garden beds, a covered structure that functions much like a greenhouse, except that it does not control the temperature, houses wonderfully big green bell peppers, cared for by the third and fourth formers. The peppers are sold, as other products, within the school and wider community, as part of students’ training that emphasizes sustainability.
The engagement of the students in vocational-technical education is a reflection of Mr. Francisco Tun’s leadership and direction, as principal, that he is charting for the school since he took over in 2008. In his words, “I believe that the way forward for our country is through vocational-technical education. I believe in graduating students with a production mentality as opposed to graduating students with a consumption mentality. To this end our students are engaged in the production of chickens, pigs and cattle, from infancy to adulthood, from rearing to slaughtering, in a controlled environment presided by the teachers acting as mentors. We teach practical and marketable skills to those students who will not pursue further formal education. At the same time, we provide entrepreneurial training to equip and encourage those graduates who can start their own businesses at a cost that the talented poor in the communities we serve can afford. This is not to say that we neglect academic education. In fact, we provide high academic standards to enable our graduates to pursue tertiary education in technical, business or academic professions.”
Mopan Technical High School started out the 2010 school year with approximately 600 students. It sits on some 53 acres, and is headed by Mr. Tun who has a Master’s degree in Education Planning and Development from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Mexico City; and two vice-principals: Ms. Carmita Ruiz and Mr. Jorge Tesucum. It has some 36 faculty members and is governed by a board of directors.
Mr. Kendall Mendez, head of the Vocational Agriculture Department, echoed Mr. Tun’s philosophy of education as he walked me through the three main programs housed by his unit: the broiler project, piggery, and dairy. I could hear his passion and commitment to enabling students to become producers versus solely consumers, “Vocational agriculture education shall provide students with the opportunity to earn, save, and invest money while at high school and actively participate in classroom and practical exercises and to develop and acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to enter and succeed in some level of production agriculture; enter and succeed in some form of agribusiness; and/or continue his/her agricultural education at a post secondary program.”
As we chatted, I saw a young student assisting with the cleaning of a sow that had just been slaughtered. In his rubber boots, he helped to hose down what must have been a 400 pounder as it was being cleaned and expertly sliced for sale. Earlier, I had seen on the announcement board in the staffroom, a note that read, “fatless pork for sale”. In the piggery area, I saw thick slices of fat, set aside, that would be converted into crunchy “chicharones”.
Mr. Tun had explained to me that the Food Agricultural Organization approved a grant of USD $10,000.00 last November for the school’s piggery project, and that he was very grateful to Mr. Carlos Itza of the Ministry of Agriculture in Belmopan. Mopan Tech is in the last phase of this project, which is building a bio-digester. Mr. Mendez, in our tour of the units, described the piggery’s development that started out with two sows and one boar in December of 2009. Now there are four sows, all pregnant, and one boar that is of the PIC (Pig Improvement Company) breed. It is projected that the sows could give up seven piglets each in the furrowing unit. The bio-digester would provide gas that can be used for the kitchen and/or for lighting.
Presently, the dairy unit is quiet, as the school is working on establishing pastures to build a protein bank. The dry season has slowed down growth, and it will take the grass a few months to propagate. Mulberry and sugar cane are also grown as part of the bank, referred to as a “nacedero,”for they are protein sources for animal feed. The school has six cows, and when the dairy is in full swing, about 5 gallons of milk are obtained daily.
The third unit, through which funds revolve more rapidly, is the broiler project. With the principal’s full support, a plucking machine worth about $2,000 now has shortened the time from slaughtering to packaging of the chickens, from five hours to two. Chicks are bought at Spanish Lookout at one day-old, and after some six weeks are ready for slaughter. Students are actively involved with the project from start to slaughtering, dressing, packaging, to distribution and even participate partially in the marketing of the chickens. Mr. Mendez also explained that students have the option of taking Agricultural Science for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), and that he can safely say that Mopan Technical students enjoy almost 100% passes.
The school has developed considerably over the two plus decades. I learned from the principal that he had lobbied with the Minister of Economic Development and Area Representative, Hon. Erwin Contreras, for urgent assistance for the school. In March 2009, the Social Investment Fund, under Hon. Contreras’ portfolio, approved a proposal for a two-classroom building and new workshop and science equipment for Mopan Technical High School at a cost of $BZ315,000.00 (three-hundred fifteen thousand dollars).
Other improvements of the high school included the expansion of computer science to first and second form students, so that now all students not only take computer classes but also have access to the Internet. This was possible only after Mr. Tun was able to build a second computer lab adjacent to the first one.
Last year during the summer holidays, a new science storeroom was built for the Science Department. This freed space from a second classroom that was being used to store science equipment. This space is now being used as a science classroom. During Open Day on April 1, I looked on as the students, both boys and girls, explained the intricacies of refraction, pressure, the heart, eye, and other science-based topics. I also noted that the departments work in close synchrony. The science teacher waited patiently for the heart and eyes of the slaughtered sow for his students to dissect them as part of their CXC science work.
With the exception of ITVET, San Ignacio, Mopan Tech is probably the only vocational-technical high school in the Cayo District. It is, probably, also the least expensive school, with the yearly tuition being only $410.00. Other vocational-technical subjects include Technical Drawing, Metalwork, Woodwork, Agriculture, Clothing and Textiles, Food and Nutrition, and Building Construction. Core subjects are Math, English, Science, Social Studies, Spanish and Computer Science. Then there are the career subjects for each of the other two programs that are offered: Business and Science.
Mr. Francisco Tun stated that the real challenge has been the limited financial resources the school has and that infrastructure is always a challenge. Right now Mopan needs a four-classroom building for expansion. While the school can only take 200, more than 300 apply for a space. From my perspective, I felt the long arm influence of the Belize Technical College still at play, for at least five teachers, Mr. Roger Polanco, Azinette Manzanero, Mr. Adib Hegar, Mr. Marco Antonio Tesucum, and Mr. Francisco Tzec, were graduates of the Belize Technical College—or started at BTC and graduated from UB as a result of the merger. Much like the 100 mahogany trees planted seven years ago on the Mopan Tech’s campus, they represent resilient and long lasting roots.