New Education Minister Plans to Meet with B.N.T.U.

Francis Fonseca

Minister of Education Francis Fonseca is yet to meet with the Belize National Teachers Union to chart the way forward for the education sector.  In the past, the B.N.T.U. has had a contentious relationship with the ministry when it was under the helm of former education minister Patrick Faber.  In the wake of the victory, B.N.T.U. has reached out to Minister Fonseca to congratulate him and a meeting is in the works.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“We’ve not had an opportunity to sit down and talk, but I have, of course, received a letter of congratulations from the president of the union, Mrs. Smith.  And in that letter, she talked about us sitting down and talking and identified a few of the priority areas for discussion.  I’ve responded to that letter and thanked her for reaching out and made it very clear to her that, of course, we will be sitting down and talking.  This is my second week in office, officially.  We’re still putting in place our management team at the Ministry of Education, so as soon as those things are settled down, as soon as those things are dealt with we will be having a meeting with the Belize National Teachers Union to discuss, as you said, these pressing concerns and issues.  And I want, as I have signaled already to them, I want us to have a strong working relationship based on respect and trust and confidence.  If we are going to succeed, if I am going to be successful as the Minister of Education, if our team is going to be successful in terms of improving the quality of education in Belize we will have to work very closely with the Belize National Teachers Union.  We need their support.  It is a partnership so we are looking forward to a good working relationship with the Belize National Teachers Union.  We won’t always agree but we can agree in principle that we share a common objective of delivering quality education for the people of this country.”