Belize Best Colleges and Universities

Belize Education Facts

Training

Belize invests considerable resources in education, but nevertheless has major shortcomings throughout the education system. Of the 90 percent of all five-year-olds who start school, only half complete compulsory eight-year compulsory school.

More than 40 percent of all children then continued on to the two compulsory high school years.

  • COUNTRYAAH: Country facts of Belize, including geography profile, population statistics, and business data.

For those who want to, you can read another two years in high school. The schools are run primarily by the Catholic Church, but are funded by the state. It is free, but the cost of books and school uniforms excludes many poor children from teaching. The state’s investment in the education system is more about improving infrastructure than about teacher education and institutional reform. Teaching is outdated and the number of educated teachers is few.

Belize got its own university in 1986. The West Indies University of the West Indies, headquartered in Jamaica, has a branch in the country, as well as the Central America Health Sciences University Health Care University. There are also a number of vocational schools. The government’s investments ensure that access to university and university places is good. Between 1999 and 2009, the number of students at the university level doubled, but despite this, only 18 percent of the relevant age group read on.

FACTS – EDUCATION

Proportion of children starting primary school

96.1 percent (2017)

Number of pupils per teacher in primary school

20 (2017)

Reading and writing skills

70.3 percent (1991)

Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP

21.7 percent (2017)

Public expenditure on education as a percentage of the state budget

21.7 percent (2017)

Belize Best Colleges and Universities