Graduating Amid State of Emergency

Patrick Faber

June is graduation season for schools at all levels across the country.  With the state of emergency still in effect until the end of the month, traditional commencement exercises will be abandoned due to strict social distancing guidelines, forcing school administrations to get creative with their graduation plans. A number of high schools are already planning virtual ceremonies.  This afternoon, Minister of Education Patrick Faber held a virtual press conference following the Prime Minister’s media brief earlier today to further discuss the issue of graduations.  He says that once the schools are able to remain in compliance with the regulations under the state of emergency, they won’t need any special permission to host their respective graduations. An example is the Belize High School.

Patrick Faber, Minister of Education

“What the Belize High School wanted to do was to have people sit in their cars and the graduates exit only at the time when he goes forward to receive the diploma from the school’s authority person.  If all of that can be done within the context of what the regulations say now, in the state of emergency,  then you need no approval from the Ministry of Education or even from the National Oversight Committee or Cabinet.  When it becomes important for such a request to be made is when it is you are attempting to do clearly violates the regulation and I am just in fact concluding a meeting with the managing authorities of secondary schools where I made that absolutely clear.  Schools are free to conduct any kind of exercise having to do with a graduation, closing of school, whatever it is they term it as, providing that those activities fall within the guidelines of the national state of emergency.  So you won’t have to come and ask permission.  Now when it is that you’re proposing to do something that is outside of those regulations then that is when you seek support either from the Association of Secondary School Principals or from the Ministry of Education.  But by and large, I think our schools are trying as best as they can to stay within those regulations.”