It's unclear what the sequence of events is that led to a list of schools being given a bit more time to prepare. But, we know that the BNTU reached out to the highest office in the Ministry of Education to request meetings to discuss teacher hardships in storm-affected schools.
That led to a Sunday afternoon press release from the Ministry of Education.
That statement says, quote, "it has been determined that classes will resume, as previously indicated, on Monday, November 7 for all schools, including those in the Belize District that are able to return safely. For other Belize District schools that have been impacted, the week of November 7 to 12 will serve as a transition week in preparation for a full return by November 14, except, of course, in extreme cases.
Those schools that have been extensively impacted have already been in touch with the ministry, and various allowances for the additional days needed for cleaning and restoration have been granted..." End quote.
The BNTU released its own statement on weekend meetings.
Their statement says, quote, "
1. Normal classes for the Belize District would resume on Monday, November 14, 2022.
2. Teachers impacted by the storm will use the time to repair their homes so that they are able to report for normal classes on November 14, 2022.
3. During the week of November 7th to the 11th, Managements should provide trauma and counseling services to their students, so they can be in a better frame of mind for classes on November 14, 2022
4. Teachers would not be required to submit absence forms during November 7th to 11, 2022.
BNTU is gravely concerned with the misleading Press release issued by the Ministry… We met in good faith out of concern for our teachers and students. We expect that our agreement would be upheld and honest reporting made." End quote.
So, one meeting, two different conclusions. Which is authoritative?
We asked the BNTU president to discuss those weekend meetings:
Senator Elena Smith, National President, BNTU
"We requested a meeting, we tried Zoom and that didn't work, because we were all out in the fields and so we ended up having to do a WhatsApp group call. We discussed with the minister the issues being faced by teachers of the Belize District, their students and their parents and we came to an agreement that for this week there wouldn't be normal classes, that classes would begin on the 14th. That would be next Monday. So that this week our teachers, our parents, our students could be taken the time to prepare themselves for next week, so that when the 14th comes everybody should be ready and able to be in the classroom. We also discuss the fact that a lot of our teachers need help, their roofs have been destroyed and so we ask that the government pay keen attention and prioritized our teachers in terms of assistance tp them, so that they can be satisfied that their homes are safe, their families would be safe and they can report to school on the 14th. All of those things we agreed to in the meeting. We also agree that for this week that teachers must be told that this is not a holiday week, that they must report to school those who can, because their school may not have been damage, but there might be teachers at that school who have received damage. So while your school is good, you can't report to work. So that was the reason why we were asking for the time off, not just teachers, but parents and students could get ready as well. So we agree to the 14th. As I said just now, we agree that it's not a holiday and teachers must come to school those who can, help the school to clean up, prepare the school and those who can't then take the time to prepare their homes and that there would be no repercussions, if you will, in terms of teachers not being able to make it this week of school. Then low and behold we saw a press release that said in collaboration with us and management that it was decided. We didn't decide to come back today. We agree with the minister to come back on the 14th, because we knew the situation on the ground. We were getting pictures from our teachers, we were getting first-hand information."
