And while BERT insists that Faber misspoke, as the Former Minister of Education, he could speak more authoritatively about school children who are falling further behind in their studies because they don't have internet access to engage in online learning.
On Wednesday, we took you to the Zion Park Methodist School, in the rural community of St. Anne's. This is one of the only school in the Belize District that has braved the COVID pandemic to reopen its doors and offer in-class instruction.
The principal told us that she has students from nearby communities who have been suffering because they can't access internet to engage in distance learning.
At yesterday's press conference, the UDP advocated for classrooms to remain closed once COVID numbers are raging. So, what about those underprivileged students who don't have internet? Faber says that the Briceno Government is failing them the most. Here are those comments:
Hon. Patrick Faber - Leader of the Opposition
"We had television programs, radio programs. We had the packages. We partnered with some of the NGOs to sponsor - I remember there was a TV program in particular. We had web activities. We encouraged children to use resources on the internet, but we also printed materials. One time, I think, for a couple of months, we actually printed on newspaper print, and sent the work to those remote areas. Has it translated into our students not losing anything? Absolutely not, our students have lost, and the amount of time that they're now out of school is damning to our children's education. But, all that we can hope for from a government that's watchful is that they will do their best. And that is where our criticism comes in because this administration - I will tell, after leading the ship - has fallen down in terms of keeping those students to the level that we should expect, given they can't be face to face."
"We put in that tablet program, the phablet - came with a keyboard and everything. And this thing - people don't talk about it, and maybe they're waiting for me to talk about it. Because they criticized that, that was an initiative of throwing the baby away with the bathwater because the UDP did the procurement for those devices. We've not heard what has become of it."
Faber continues to insist that the Briceno Government had a lot more time to prepare for this crisis and that they squandered that time.
