Photo: CEO Maheia hands Yasser Musa, a teacher
at SJC, certificate of recognition
by Marco Lopez
BELMOPAN, Thurs. June 22, 2023
The publisher of this newspaper, Evan X Hyde, will go down in Belizean History as an ardent advocate for the implementation of African and Indian (Mayan) Studies within the school system curriculum. Indeed, African and Indian (Mayan) Studies is Belizean Studies, and today trailblazers were recognized for their work in developing the Belizean Studies Programme now being taught across schools nationwide. CEO of the Ministry of Education, Dian Maheia describes the event as a celebration of the Belizean identity, and recognition of the hard road traversed to get to this point.
Belizean Studies was rolled out countrywide in schools at the start of the 2019 school year in high schools. The Ministry of Education is commemorating its 5th year of the curriculum within the school system. According to Delmer Tzib, an educator and one of the pioneers of Belizean studies within the classroom, the subject seeks the diverse society in which we live, and the many issues plaguing the country to evoke a sense of social responsibility within those students, and trigger the desire to formulate solutions to improve the Belizean reality.
During an interview with 7News this week, Yasser Musa, a teacher at St. John’s College said, “I have to say that here at SJC we were embraced. Our headmaster at the time, Yolanda Gongora was very open and supportive of our work; uh, we had a visit, she invited Evan X Hyde from Amandala to come to the campus and discuss it because he had in his newspaper advocated and called for, for many decades, since 1969, the birth of Amandala, called for the teaching of Indigenous and African history in our curriculum; so I thought that was a special moment. I have to say that in terms of resistance, I would want to say that even to this day there is still not a full embrace of the idea. At the national level, it will be a constant advocacy that needs to continue because every year, you can’t expect, if voice isn’t given to these ideas, you can’t expect these ideas to just have a path onto itself. There has been a long history before that has objected and canceled out this teaching.”
CEO Maheia in her presentation praised those being recognized at today’s ceremony for forging that unbeaten path.
“The efforts that have brought Belizean Studies to this point have been rough. There’ve been challenges that you all know, you all have been part of, and it’s never perfect, it’s not easy,” Maheia said. “But the why matters … and today’s goal is to provide well-deserved recognition to all of you who have been carving those paths,” Maheia said.
She said that the efforts have led to collaboration never before seen in the Belizean landscape. “We’re seeing collaborations across levels,” Maheia said, “all with one goal – the why. That united purpose is to prepare our students to meet the needs of the nation. We’re united because we love Belize; we’re united because we need to understand that we have to understand where we came from, and where we are. Belizean Studies is a real part of that,” she said.
Those recognized at today’s ceremony included teachers, trainers, program facilitators, workshop participants, and schools.