Ministry of Education Suspends Paid Study Leaves for Teachers

Today, the Ministry of Education issued a memo to managements of all schools, the Belize Teaching Services Commission, and the B.N.T.U. in which the matter of study leave with pay is addressed. In the memo, Chief Education Officer Yolanda Gongora states that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused heightened fiscal scrutiny and financial prudence, which has caused the Ministry to re-examine its financial prospects to prioritize expenditure and reallocate resources as necessary. As such, the Ministry has decided to suspend study leave with pay approvals until further notice. Opposition Leader Patrick Faber says the P.U.P. government s going about it the wrong way. Faber says that the Briceño Administration should have been creative.

Patrick Faber

Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition

“What the U.D.P. would have done in an instance like that is to look in areas where the numbers of trained teachers are probably higher than in other areas and look close study leave in those particular areas. Let’s say for instance in the primary levels. In the northern party, central and western regions we have a higher number of trained teachers. The south, the situation there is not good. So we have to keep on going there, that is what we would have recommended. But you would not have said to the teachers all together, no study leave for you and these are the things that the government I think failing. You have to communicate and you to find creative ways in doing things.”