Eighteen students received scholarships to study Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC). The National Ozone Unit, within the Department of the Environment (DOE), hosted an award ceremony on September 13th, 2017 at the Institute for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ITVET) Conference Room (Belize City). Each scholarship is set to cover the cost of tuition for each recipient for the completion of the second year of their RAC programme, and upon graduating, each recipient will receive a basic toolkit for start in the field. The scholarship recipients were chosen from 3 designated institutes across the country based on their active partnership with the Association of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technicians (ARACT) – ITVET Belize City, ITVET Orange Walk and Cayo Center for Employment Training (CET). The scholarships were distributed among the 3 institutes and recipients were selected based on an application process via these institutes.

This scholarship initiative is the second done with the objective of encouraging young technicians to develop their technical and educational capacities in the Refrigeration and AC sector using internationally recognized standards. These scholarships will help these much-deserving young scholars, providing for a better education while also improving their future job opportunities. Generally in Belize, the RAC Technician population is experiencing slow growth; however with more incentives and young technicians being developed through these type of initiatives, Belize would be able to see a gradual growth of Certified RAC Technicians.

This scholarship award ceremony is being held in commemoration of the International Ozone Day 2017, under the theme “Caring for All Life under the Sun.” International Ozone Day is celebrated on September 16th each year, by all countries that are parties to the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. This day we promote, at the national level, activities in accordance with the objectives of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments.