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Mar 13, 2018

Teachers’ Union Responds to Crime Surge

Earlier we told you that a number of organizations and bodies have been publicly condemning the recent spate of violence on young children and women, particularly during child stimulation month and on the heels of International Day of Women.  The Belize National Teachers Union, the Bar Association and the P.U.P.’s United Women’s Group say that now is the time for action to put an end to these attacks.  Parents, government, as well as civil society, must take steps to curb the sexual and violent assaults on these vulnerable groups. The B.N.T.U. calls on G.O.B. to spare no resource, both human and financial, to attack what seems to become a very regular occurrence. We spoke with President Elena Smith today.

 

Via Phone: Elena Smith, President, B.N.T.U.

“You know that our teachers deal with children on a daily basis and many of our teachers are very concerned with what was happening. Especially seeing that a lot of them experience first-hand these kinds of trauma that the children go through when these types of incidents occur. So, we felt that as an organization that represents these teachers who deal with these students, it is our duty to say something about what is happening with our children – this violence that has been going on and committed on these young children. As teachers, we are not only here to educate our students but we are also here to look after their well-being. We are expected to do so and as such we are responsible and we have duty to ensure that follow certain things that go against what our children are experiencing.”

 

Andrea Polanco

“How can teachers play an active role in the education and awareness in terms of creating that discussion not just when the incidents are happening but even inside the classroom?”

 

Via Phone: Elena Smith

“We are well aware that our teachers are in a position to teach our children what causes these things and how they can help themselves – and how parents can help their children – our students to better help themselves. And so, we believe if we can speak with our children as early as possible, enlighten them, educate them as well as the parents as to what look out for, what are the signs they should look out for, what are things they can do when certain things occur; who they can reach out to if they need to speak to anyone and share any of these things that are happening to them. If we can educate our students on those things then we believe we would be assisting in protecting them a little better. So, what we have been doing or what we are going to be doing is to have a list of things that students and parents can do to protect themselves and we are going to be putting those in flier forms and sending them out into the community; to our parents, our schools, our students, wherever we can reach.”


Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.

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