Today concluded 8 days since the Belize National Teachers Union called its strike that has had students across the country out of school. Since that time the support for the teachers in their quest for salary increase, no new taxes and reform has been significant. One organization that showed its support in the most public of ways was the SJC Sixth Form which along with other tertiary level institutions took to the streets last week to protest for the teachers' cause. Since that time they too have been out of school but today they came back if only for a few hours to hold a rally to consider the state of affairs. Dean of SJC-Junior College Rick Bateman explains.
Rick Bateman, Dean
"We really wanted an opportunity to bring our school family together and give everybody a chance to be heard. Statements have been made on behalf of the faculty and statements have been made on behalf of students. We wanted an opportunity to gather everyone today so we could talk about what the school believes in as a whole. Our students want to be in school, our teachers want to be in school but we also realize that there is a civic responsibility that each of us has an adult citizen in Belize to examine our conscience and to make sure we are a part of creating a solution for a better tomorrow. In the end for any institution like SJC, of higher learning, the strength is in the diversity of opinion and we recognize that but I believe that there is no greater lesson our students can learn about what it means to be leaders for Belize and leaders with Belizeans. We hear a lot of talk on the radio stations about students missing out on educational opportunities in the classroom, and there is truth in that and I understand that, but there is also a wonderful lesson that's being learnt that when the students many years from now forget about the Battalion Empire, they won't forget about this."
