B.N.T.U. Maintains Stance on Christmas Vacation

The Belize National Teachers Union has issued a release reiterating its position that classes for the upcoming semester will resume on January ninth, 2017.  B.N.T.U., in accordance with the Education Rule, maintains that teachers, as well as students are entitled to three weeks of Christmas vacation.  The Ministry of Education is leaning on Rule One-thirty-one, Section Four of the Handbook of Policies and Procedures for School Services 2000 to proceed with an amendment to the academic calendar should a school fall short of the required one hundred and eighty days.  That rule, however, makes it clear that, “special arrangements shall be made by the school, not the Ministry of Education to fulfill this requirement.” In that release, the union emphatically expresses concern that managements are merely using teachers as pawns, and that they should be included in the discussion.  Finally, the memo calls once again calls on school managers to sit with teachers and formulate plans to make up time lost to industrial action in October.