A COVID-19 Education Task Force is Formed

The Briceño Administration has established a COVID-19 Education Task Force to help guide the government in delivering quality, accessible education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has dealt a blow to education, with regular classroom sessions suspended since March of last year. So the idea is for the task force to provide specific recommendations for the safe and responsible reopening of schools for face to face instruction in the new school year, tentatively in August 2021. Among those on the task force are Special Envoy Rossana Briceño, Senators Isabel Bennett and Elena Smith, and Acting DHS Melissa Diaz Musa, principals Jamie Usher and Salome Tillett.  Rounding off the members are: Martine King of Mind Health Connect, a member of the UB Faculty and Staff Union and the President of the National Student Union of Belize.

The United Democratic Party, now led by former Minister of Education, Patrick Faber responded to the task force’s formation. In a release, the U.D.P. says that the government has blatantly disregarded partnership in education and inclusiveness, failing to compose a task force that reflects the education sector. It speaks to school proprietors and managements having been snubbed and excluding a rep from technical and vocational education.