On Monday night, Guatemalan parents met in Melchor De Mencos to express their distress about new border crossing regulations put in place by Belize’s Ministry of Immigration for students coming into Benque. The regulated process has been in the works since October 2015 and is a security control measure to prevent persons from crossing the […]
You probably know or are related to someone who studies or who has passed through the halls of Saint Catherine Academy. The all-girls high school continues as a vanguard institution in education. It currently has an enrollment of six hundred and eighty-five students representing the largest student body in its history. It’s a milestone that […]
In December 2016, the Belize National Teachers’ Union and Ministry of Education were ordered to mediation by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin to resolve a dispute over attempts by Government to withhold teachers’ salaries for the eleven days they were on strike in October. They also hoped to resolve the matter of teachers making up class […]
“Free paper bun” for thousands of students countrywide on this Monday, after schools formally re-opened following a three-week holiday break. The Ministry of Education, with support from managers of schools, had tried to re-open them on January third with limited success. It was an attempt to make up four of six days agreed as having […]
Students were away from the classrooms this week and so were teachers and other members of the Belize National Teachers Union. They are expected back in school next Monday as scheduled, long before a dispute between the B.N.T.U. and the Ministry of Education would come to boiling point. This latest salvo in an ongoing dispute […]
Across the country, teachers were not in classrooms in response to a call from the Belize National Teachers Union. The latest dispute between the B.N.T.U. and the Ministry of Education involves the resumption of classes as the union continues with its planned absence from classrooms until January ninth. While mediation is pending over salaries and […]
Is the Belize National Teachers Union alone in its face-off with the Ministry of Education over the resumption of classes in January? The Belize Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, led by Chairperson Omar Longsworth, is the most recent group to call on teachers and students to return to school next Tuesday. The BAPSS is […]
According to Longsworth, there are no indications from secondary school teachers that they will be absent from work on Tuesday. In the interest of high school students who will be sitting exams in the second semester, the BAPSS chair is asking that the issue be resolved quickly. Isani Cayetano “I take it that the […]
The Belize National Teachers Union has issued a release reiterating its position that classes for the upcoming semester will resume on January ninth, 2017. B.N.T.U., in accordance with the Education Rule, maintains that teachers, as well as students are entitled to three weeks of Christmas vacation. The Ministry of Education is leaning on Rule One-thirty-one, […]
On Thursday, Simone Biles landed in Belize to much fan-fare courtesy the B.T.B. and other local partners. By now you would know that the world’s best gymnast is the adopted daughter of Belizean Nellie Cayetano Biles. And while we may know a lot about her gymnastics feats, we don’t always get to see the star […]
Teachers and students across the country are officially on Christmas vacation. Some are enjoying time with friends and family, while others are catching up with their to-do list ahead of the long weekend. In spite of the festive holiday spirit, both are once again locked into a situation that is not necessarily of their own […]
The Ministry of Education and the Belize National Teachers Union will enter into mediation in the days ahead, to resolve the standing issue of teachers salaries post the eleven-day strike back in October. That’s what Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin has instructed. The issue of salary deduction aside, there are a number of burning issues between […]
As far as Managing Authorities are concerned, their position is clear. At a meeting held on November second with ministry officials, it was unanimously agreed upon that classes should resume on January third, as part of an overall schedule to make up for time lost. The B.N.T.U. doesn’t share that position. In fact, teachers are […]
According to career educator Adelaida Guerra, trade unionist and claimant in the case brought against government, B.N.T.U. is quite clear on its position based on the existing Education Rules. Acting on the advice of Senior Counsel Courtenay, the union will remain firm in requesting that teachers return to school on January ninth. Adelaida Guerra, […]
Courtenay says that government is treating teachers with disrespect and that the Education Rules must be adhered to by the Ministry of Education, as well as the Managing Authorities. Reporter “Sir, are your clients the teachers going to honor this January third that they should show up for work come the New Year?” […]
In early September we told you about the preliminary findings on the St George’s Caye Battle from the Spanish perspective. A local team made up of historians, Archives and NICH personnel and researchers and educators from Quintana Roo have been transcribing 18th century manuscripts that provide first-hand account of the Spaniards’ activities surrounding the 1798 […]
The Belize Association of General Managers of Pre and Primary Schools says that classes will resume on January third, 2017, contrary to what the Belize National Teachers Union stated on Monday. In a letter written by the association’s Vice Chair Denise Lamb, she says that managers unanimously agreed to have schools reopen six days earlier […]
When the teachers went on an eleven-day strike in October, they had put together a list of eight demands, called the good governance agenda. One of the demands was the contracting of an international expert to investigate the beheading of Pastor Llewellyn Lucas in July. Lucas’ head was found in a bucket in the pan […]
Over the past two years we have been sharing with you the creative talents of primary school students through the Primary School Art Skills Training project. It started with teaching the basics of drawing, painting and other art skills and it has developed into a full-fledged program where students are participating internationally for awards and […]
The Belize National Teachers’ Union has informed its members to go ahead and take their full three weeks of Christmas vacation, as the majority, the union says, rejects the Ministry of Education’s proposal to take four of those Christmas vacation days and two from Easter to make up for time lost during the eleven-day strike […]
This week is disability awareness week. It is being observed from the twenty seventh of November to the third of December. The week includes the United Nations sanctioned international day of people with disability held each year on December third. The week is used to educate people regarding disabilities and giving people the knowledge required to […]
Since the Supreme Court decision in favor of the Belize National Teachers Union last Monday, the Ministry of Education has been silent about the processing of salaries for the month of November. Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin ruled that government cannot dock the wages of teachers who participated in an eleven-day strike in October, until the […]
As part of a series of efforts to achieve public buy-in for the House of Culture and Downtown Rejuvenation Project, the committee behind that project organized a History and Social Studies Quiz competition for primary school students in the Old Capital. After several months of studying three hundred questions in different categories and two semi-final […]
Earlier this month, the results for the 2016 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations were released by the Ministry of Education and a whopping three hundred and sixty-six Belizean fourth form and sixth form students received distinction. While Edward P. Yorke High School had the record number of passes for CSEC […]
A former U.S. president once said that the chief business of his country is business. There have been efforts down the years to move Belize to that credo, and the best place to start is at the University of Belize, whose students today displayed the fruits of a semester’s worth of work in marketing and […]
