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Courtney Weatherburne reporting
Today the Marion Jones Stadium was transformed into a colorful space much like the classroom. Of course the kids were very comfortable, working on their spelling

And getting in some online reading. But these kids aren't just here for the fun activities. It's the launch of the Education Ministry's literacy campaign. Now there are several ongoing initiatives promoting literacy but this is the first full-fledged collective effort.

Dr. Carol Babb, Chief Education Officer
"Today we are recommitting with a more strategic plan in mind to ensure that students are reading at their grade level. One might say that literacy is already the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and that is true, but today we are recommitting our efforts with all our partners to ensure that literacy is a reality for all our students."

Many students have been struggling and continue to struggle with English and Math throughout their educational life. These challenges are reflected in the PSE results. According to the statistics, 25% of schools have a history of low performance. Now getting everyone back on track with literacy is certainly a mammoth task, but student assessments have already started in city schools and will extend to other schools countrywide.

Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
"There are nine schools that we are working with right now in the city, yes. And you have also heard from our director of QUADS about our move to do a kind of diagnostic test at standard one, at the start of standard one to make sure that children at that stage are reading at that level and above. And if they are not we are going to put in place the corrective measures that are needed to make sure they do not move beyond that point without getting the support they need."

"This is a pilot and of course we are making sure we have the friendly environment for children. But as we often say while we pilot these things this is what our daily work is in the ministry, teachers across this country should be working to make the learning environment more child friendly."

But the responsibility also lies with everyday citizens to promote and inspire literacy.

Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
"If you are riding on the city bus beside a child, walk around with a little book in your bag and read to the child while on the bus. If you are going to market, if you are going to the bank sometimes you have to wait in line, sometimes you have to sit and wait whatever it is that you are doing. If you don't have your own children deal with your nieces and your nephews or your neighbors, grandchildren or whatever it is whoever it is you can find to spread the love of literacy. And I also want to point out when we talk about literacy we are not only talking about reading and writing we are also talking about numeracy and you have seen the ministry push financial literacy repeatedly. It is a main push for the ministry but we want our children to be good with numbers to be good in math as well."

Scotia Bank donated 15 computers to the Ministry of Education as part of this collective effort.

In other news from Scotia, Belize's only international bank today announced that it will be closing its branches in Spanish Lookout and Placencia. Spanish Lookout - which has been robbed twice - will be closed on April 20th, while Placencia will close on June 22nd. A statement from the bank doesn't offer much by the way of explanation - and only invokes some corporate speak, saying, quote, "Scotiabank continuously reviews its operations... to ensure we meet the needs of our customers while maximizing operational efficiencies….We are also committed to supporting our employees through this transition..."