The government of Belize, placing high emphasis on educational investment, developed the 2011-2016 Education Sector Strategy (ESS) in its continuous effort to transform the education system.

The primary objectives of the initiative include bridging the identified gaps (e.g., between gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and urban/rural) (Belize MoEYSC, 2012), ensuring quality education, and improving education across the country.  Aligned with the initiative’s focus, the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports & Culture (MoEYSC) of Belize has been working towards providing children with equitable access to quality and relevant education at all levels, improving institutional management capabilities and efficiency, and enhancing its capacity to monitor progress.

Now in its second phase and well grounded in the ESS, the MoEYSC Belize launched the Belize Education Sector Reform Programme (January 2016).  Recognizing evidence as a key input to impactful educational programming, the Ministry chose to implement OpenEMIS as a flexible, open source solution to information management.  Since deployment in 2014, OpenEMIS has been positioned to support the data collection, analysis, dissemination, and an increased evidence-based planning in the education sector.

Under the motto of “Better data for better schools,” the MoEYSC Belize leveraged OpenEMIS as a tool to achieve its policy objectives: to increase equitable access at all levels of education for all children; to improve the quality and relevance of education at all levels for all children, especially including those with special education needs (SEN); and to strengthen governance throughout the sector with emphasis on increased student achievement.  These objectives highlight the need for quality education data.  OpenEMIS has been supporting the MoEYSC Belize to collect and manage relevant and timely data and information, with technical support from Community Systems Foundation.  The system went live in 2015 with 105,979 students and 615 principals in 615 schools across the country utilizing OpenEMIS to create student and teacher profiles, organizing classes, managing staff and most recently to complete their annual education survey.