Dr. Carol Babb

Speaker Information

Dr. Carol Babb holds a master’s degree in Secondary Education from the University of North Florida and a Doctorate in Education from Oklahoma State. She has held one of the highest offices in the education sector as the Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education. Dr. Babb started working at the Ministry of Education in 2008, as Deputy Chief Education Officer, where she helped to ensure that children were given the tools needed to reach their developmental potential. As Deputy Chief, she began her longstanding work with Peacework International. A crowning achievement of this collaboration was a program called ‘Project Belize,’ which provided financial literacy training to teachers, parents, and students. It is because of the investment in the project that financial literacy is now a part of the primary school curriculum and taught as a core subject in Belize secondary schools. In 2015, Dr. Babb became the Chief Education Officer at the ministry and served in this position until November 2020. Dr. Babb says that she believes not, just as much as she did then, that literacy is the basis for all forms of learning. It was under her leadership that a Literacy Unit was formed at the ministry and that a partnership was created with the Peace Corps to recruit response volunteers to support the expansion of literacy in schools. Dr. Babb also advocated for the development of school gardens so that every Belizean child can eat at least one healthy meal a day at school. Dr. Babb continues her work with Peacework Belize as Director, in the community where she grew up. Her goal is to work with young people in underserved neighborhoods and she believes that her team can serve as a turning point in their lives. In her own words, “Education is the greatest investment that can help to create many opportunities and transform at-risk youths.”