B.N.T.U. and Ministry of Education make new agreement

The proposed Teacher’s Commission was contentious when it was first introduced by Minister Patrick Faber. But it now appears that common ground has been reached. The Education and Training Bill, which includes the sticky issue of the commission, was taken to Cabinet this Tuesday and got its green light despite a request by the Belize National Teacher’s Union’s for an extension of the consultation period. Following the Cabinet meeting, senior officials from the Ministry of Education and B.N.T.U. finally came to an agreement. In a joint press release today B.N.T.U. says that they have both agreed to one more month of consultations before presentation to the House Committee on Education; that is after its first reading in the House in December. Faber explained the latest development.

Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
“We are hoping that with this new agreement with the B.N.T.U. for them to go and have branch meetings and for the Ministry of Education officials to be on hand to give clarification and explanations for questions that might be coming up, that these kinds of problems will be fixed. We certainly have the entire support of the council. It was unanimous that they have these branch meetings and that they give the month and that if they have any serious concerns or changes that they want to see to the bill, that those changes would be made at the time that the bill goes to the House Committee on Education after its first reading.”