Education Minister Makes Plea for Help; Takes Shots at Teacher’s Union

Patrick Faber

At the annual CXC ceremony on Thursday in San Ignacio, Minister of Education Patrick Faber addressed the gathering, directed a portion of his speech at parents, school administrators and teachers, and asked their help to improve education in Belize. And while he was at it, he even called out the Teacher’s Union. While it is public knowledge that there is no love lost there, in the same breath that he pleaded to the Union to join the cause of education, he also took shots at the teacher organization. He says they are not doing what they are supposed to, and that the only thing they seem to be doing of late is to ask for a raise of pay. Here’s how he puts it:

Patrick Faber, Minister of Education

“I ask you for your support, parents, administrators, I will even make the plea to the Union, which, I repeat, has lost its way and in fact has not been looking out for the services of teachers as they ought to be doing at all. They don’t put on any professional development workshops; they don’t go out other than to ask for raise of pay. That is the only thing I see them doing. We need them to be behind the teachers to get the teachers to be doing a higher quality performance for the children in the classroom.”