Teachers Demand Statement Retraction from PM and Minister Coye

The Belize National Teachers Union says it is being constantly attacked by the Government of Belize. The union is now calling on Prime Minister John Briceño and Christopher Coye, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; to retract recent public statements they made pointing fingers at teachers for poor performance in the education sector. The union says it condemns the statements because they irresponsibly generalize the flaws in the education system as being a direct result of the quality of teachers. One of the most recent comments came from Minister Coye during a World Bank report launch event in San Ignacio. The report noted that investments being made in the sector far outweigh the returns. Today, the union held a press conference in Belmopan where Jorge Mejia, the acting president of the B.N.T.U., outlined the issues raised in the report and why they believe fingers should be pointed at the Ministry of Education.

 

Jorge Mejia, Acting President, B.N.T.U.

“The issues outlined by the report related to the education sector highlighted several areas, one the lack of reliable measures of learning at the secondary level. High repetition rate in primary and secondary, inefficient use of grade repetition as a support policy, potential issues with salary structures for teachers, affecting the evaluation of the education sector, challenges implementing strategies to reduce learning gap between subgroups, high expenditure on secondary education, inadequate measures in student progress and ways to support students that has special needs. The report also looks at poor student performance in Belize, declining in PSE scores, factors including student performance, tougher assessments, and shift in test taking pools towards learning outcomes of students. We also want to share with the public that in no way the report directly linked poor teaching as a major factor contributing to low performance in the education system.  Despite the finger pointing that the minister has stated in public, this is not the real scenario. The key stakeholders that should be responsible to ensure that all policies are in place should be the ministry of education and in extension the chief education officer.”