Attendance weak, but schools stay open

One reason for the light attendance at Battlefield Park may have been that a majority of the city’s teachers and public officers declined to participate in the walkout. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods visited a number of city schools and files the following report.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Despite the call for strike by the Belize National Teachers Union, primary and secondary schools remain open in Belize City. Most teachers went to work and a fair number of students attended classes.

Clement Wade, General Manager, Roman Catholic School
?In fact, the only school that had a small attendance of teachers is the St. Ignatius School; they had about half the teachers present today.?

The situation however remains confused because staff and students say they do not know what will happen next. It was difficult getting people to talk about the situation at their schools, but one person who has been speaking on behalf of the children from Roman Catholic Schools is General Manager Clement Wade. Wade explains why he believes the majority of teachers did not support the industrial action.

Clement Wade
?I think there is still confusion as to what the teachers are called on to take action for. In the beginning when the first industrial action happened, I think teachers knew exactly what they wanted. They wanted their salaries, they wanted no new taxes, they wanted reforms; and immediately they were engaged by the government to see what can happen. This time around, I keep hearing a number of things like solidarity with, but when you look at it, the only people that are really suffering the consequences of this whole thing are the children.?

It is estimated that about ninety percent of the primary school teachers in Belize City reported to school. A greater proportion of parents kept their children home, but they are being advised that there are classes and that security will be provided at schools.

G. Michael Reid, Police Press Officer
?There are police officers assigned to ensure that the schools are safe, and of course the line is open. Whenever there are any problems the police will respond immediately. So every measure will be taken, and again, the children are our first priority.?

Some teachers, who did not wish to speak on camera, say while they would like to support the strike action they are not prepared to lose their jobs or salary. Herman Lambey is the principal of Queen Street Baptist School. Lambey says they still decided to have classes even though only twenty-three percent of their students showed up this morning.

Herman Lambey, Principal, Queen Street Baptist School
?At present, we have seventy-one children at school. Our teachers are here, our classes are very small, but that?s the reality of the situation at the moment.?

Clement Wade
?I am thinking though that it wouldn?t make sense for the action to last very much longer because most of the teachers are present in school. In fact, I checked around and many of the schools had full attendance of teachers today.?

Many of the principals we visited say they intend to keep schools open unless management tells them otherwise. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.

Most of the city’s high schools conducted normal classes today, although attendance by students, and to a lesser extent teachers, was well below normal.