Education minister needs to hold off Cabinet presentation
Turning to the thorny issue of the proposed teacher’s commission, the Belize National Teacher’s Union has written to the Minister of Education imploring that Patrick Faber back off and delay his Cabinet presentation about the Teaching Services Commission and the Teaching Service Appeals Tribunal. The letter, which was also copied to the Prime Minister, states that if Faber makes his address to Cabinet, it would be “premature and an act of bad faith.” George Frazer, B.N.T.U.’s Executive Secretary, says that Faber needs to make a presentation to the stakeholders then allow the Joint Working Committee to reconvene and complete its work.
George Frazer, Executive Secretary, B.N.T.U.
“The basic reason we are writing the minister and asking him to please delay his presentation to Cabinet, next week Tuesday, the twenty-seventh is because our BNTU council believes that as we had agreed weeks ago, from the working committee that the minister had appointed from about a year ago, that we would go over and put our ideas together, try flesh out the different rules and concerns and again the teaching commission and see how best to adapt it to Belize. The union also had its own consultations from the twenty-third of September to the last week Friday the sixteenth. Many teachers and others were saying dehn noh know enough about these things, especially the teaching commission. But of course, the whole exercise was to review the education act and rules; dah no only the teaching commission. They were putting together certain other aspects of education that had their own act. For example, IT-VET had their own act. Then the teaching commission, this is a new thing. So they put all of these things under one cover under the Education Act so there would be major changes in the way things were being done. The ministry had made a commitment that after the consultation, the working group needed to reconvene. So we are telling the minister coming out of our consultation and discussions with the church group and others, people are asking for more time. The working group, which was a broad based thing; managers, ministry, union, BAPs, ATLIB and others, we need to be updated first. That’s where the whole process started first and then you could always present it to Cabinet. That’s why we are saying we feel that it’s only right and respectful that you bring it back to the working committee as we had agreed.”
Jose Sanchez
“You also mentioned that this should not be done before the end of the year. Why do you need so much time?”
George Frazer
“Alright, because people have been focusing more on the teaching commission and the appeal. As I mentioned earlier, the whole exercise has to do with reviewing the Education Act and rules. So there are many concerns about discipline of students at school, concerns about school safety, concerns about keeping worship or devotion and prayers in schools. All these things and we have been focusing most of our energies and the public out there on the teaching commission and there are many other issues in the rules and thing which we need to focus on.”
Frazer says that there are other issues such as school safety and school discipline which also need to be properly ventilated before moving forward. The letter which was penned by B.N.T.U. president Jaime Panti said that the process shouldn’t be rushed because it can’t be completed before the end of 2009.
