Education Stakeholders Meet to Address Sector’s Pressing Issues

Education stakeholders met in Belize City for a meeting to discuss major issues affecting the sector and how they might be addressed. The meeting, which lasted around four hours, was hosted by the Ministry of Education, and chaired by Minister Francis Fonseca.  It had the participation of managing authorities, government departments, and the Belize National Teachers Union (BNTU). Minister Fonseca in his overview of today’s discussions, noted that key topics were brought to the table including salaries and increments, which have caused problems in education for many years.  In a positive way forward, Fonseca noted that the government has made multiple commitments to the teachers with timelines on deliverables, where possible.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education: “We talked about the challenges and opportunities in the education system. We agreed that we had a shared vision and commitment for improving the quality of education in our country. And so we wanted to look at, we looked at the teaching profession, the challenges in the teaching profession. We looked specifically of course at the issues of increments and allowances and all of those issues that have been plaguing the system for a long time. So how do we reform that system and fix it once and for all? You know, and then we talked, of course, as well, about digitization, meeting the needs of tomorrow. So how do we put in place the structures and systems we need to make the education system more effective and efficient into the future? We put in place some timelines for the ones that can. We understand that, listen, there are… medium-term and longer-term reforms that have to take place, but we also recognize that there are urgent challenges and issues that we have to prioritize and deal with. So yes, we talked about certain deadlines, even in February, but also later in the year, July and August, for specific areas in terms of digitization and having forms in place.”

Nadia Caliz, President of the BNTU, said that the government has committed to several interventions that will improve the quality of life for teachers. These include more scholarships, financial support for teachers in remote areas, and refining the process for paying out salaries.

Nadia Cruz, President, BNTU: “The ministry offered the BNTU, on top of what we have already, eleven scholarships for us to give to our members, those who need to qualify themselves. That’s one. Another part is the fact that in the TVET sector, like, we have a hard time, secondary schools have a hard time finding teachers to cover those areas. We have agreed for them to issue temporary permits. So let’s say you know someone who owns a business but let’s say it is in construction but he or she is not interested in taking up teaching full-time, but he’s willing to come in and teach only that particular subject and then exit, they no allow for that. So you should no longer see secondary schools struggling to find persons to come in and teach these subjects, that’s one. Another one that we love is the fact that they have difficulty finding teachers in remote areas, and for example, San Pedro is one of those right now. They are willing to provide housing and additional support for those teachers outside of the hardship and commuting allowance. That’s a plus again to get teachers into the area. What the BNTU loves now is that there is a commitment on paper for the whole payment system to change as of next month, and that we love. In the process right now it will normally come from the managing authority to the ministry, then it goes back to the managing authority, and then there’s a long turnaround from there coming back and then going to treasury. What they have done now is that everything from managing authority to go to ministry education who then sends that to the finance section and then just copy the managing authority after that. So that entire layer for another month or two has been removed. We love that.”

Other parties present at the meeting included the Belize Tax Service, the Grant Aided Managing Authority of Schools (GAMAS), and the Belize Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (BAPSS). The parties signed a joint statement, which should be released shortly.