On January 20th, Belize's teachers took the decision to go on strike. As is now history, that strike lasted for 12 days. At the time the agitation was over reform, salary increases and no new taxes, and concessions made by government show that the teachers' bold act made a significant impact on Belize's governance. But while the impact on the country was great, so too was it on children who were out of school for 12 consecutive school days. And now, those kids who got holiday in January are paying it back with extra time in the classroom. We today spoke to General Manager of Catholic Schools Clemente Wade who says the children will make up their hours with limited interruption in their class schedules.
Clemente Wade,
"This makeup is being done in all Catholic Schools in this country except for about 6 or so schools that were never on strike. So of the 119 Catholic Schools that fall under my management, about 112 were on strike. Because of that, some schools have lost as many as 66 contact hours. Schools are looking for a way that will not unduly stress the children to make it up. They realize Saturday will be a no-no, children look forward to their weekend. What many of the schools are doing since the regular school is 8:30 to 11:30 and 1:00 to 3:30, a majority of the schools are beginning at 8 and then to 11:30 because they need that hour and a half for break, you can't mess around with that too much for the lunch break, and then you go from 1 to 4; that is a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the afternoon that's being made up and that is one hour. If you take that and multiply that by three months, since they've lost 66 hours, in about three months beginning first of March they'll be able to make up the days. The school rules specify that children should have 180 contact days with their teachers a year and rule 131 specifically states that when a school will not meet the requirement of 180 days then that school must make up the time but the school must inform the Chief education Officer who will concur."
Alfonso Noble,
Critics again will say well this is just now what we both parents and children have to pay for the actions of the teachers. How would you comment on that?
Clemente Wade,
"One of the things that we must realize is that even the rules of education give teachers the right to take action if they see something that is detrimental to their job, the country, or anything like that; they are given that right even in the law. All it says in the law is that they may not be paid for days when they are out. So in reality, that's a right that the teachers have and in this case we all know that whatever actions the teachers took the country was feeling almost the same way that the teachers were and I think just for a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the afternoon, I think parents and other people that children in the school feel that this a worthwhile price to pay for the gains that were made."
Wade pointed out that the amount of make up time that the schools choose to put in varies by administration, and so the time changes may vary from school to school.
