PM Briceño: Schools Have to Open

John Briceño

Schools are to reopen to hybrid learning come January, alternating between online distance-learning and having students on the school compounds that have been given the green light to operate. The Prime Minister says schools must reopen, even at the risk of an initial COVID spike.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“The schools have to open. We cannot run away from not opening the schools. Our children are almost two years out of the classroom and we are doing a disservice to them and a disservice to the country because if they are not properly prepared, when they become adults, they will not be able to take over the helm of religion, of education, of business or governance so we have to get back to school. I don’t care what anybody has to say. I have my cousin who lives in the United States; her husband, both of them are Belizeans. One is a vice principal of a primary school and the next one is a principal of a primary school. He says, they have been open over a year ago. What they found out is that for the first two three weeks, they would see a spike of COVID, but right after that it flattens and then you just continue to monitor and ensure that as soon as somebody seems to be sick or having a cough, you do the testing and then you send them home for proper monitoring. So it is not a matter if; it is a matter that we have to open schools.”