Teachers’ Union: Have a Merry Christmas Vacation, Teachers!

The Belize National Teachers’ Union has informed its members to go ahead and take their full three weeks of Christmas vacation, as the majority, the union says, rejects the Ministry of Education’s proposal to take four of those Christmas vacation days and two from Easter to make up for time lost during the eleven-day strike in October. According to the Ministry, managers of primary and secondary schools have agreed to take four days from the Christmas holiday and two from the Easter holiday, subject to undetermined compensation. But the B.N.T.U. says not so fast. Like the attempted deduction of teachers’ salaries for the strike, which was defeated in court, school managers and not the Ministry should plan how to make that time up. The Union says its position is boosted by Rule one-thirty-one-four of the Handbook of Policies and Procedures for School Services, 2000, and by Rule eighty of the Education Amendment Rules of 2012 concerning the school calendar and the right to vacation. According to the B.N.T.U., its members and some parents are not in agreement with this sudden change, with the latter going as far to insist that their children will not return to school until the scheduled date of January ninth. The Union and Ministry return to court for the full argument of their case on salary deductions on Friday, December sixteenth.