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The House of Representatives will meet on Friday in Belmopan and the big ticket item on the legislative agenda is the passage of the Education and Training Bill – that much consulted on, highly controversial piece of legislation which engenders the Teaching Services Commission.

But the Teachers Union is asking for a last minute reprieve. 7News has learnt that after 5:00 this evening, the Belize National teachers Union sent the Prime Minister a letter asking him to delay the second and third readings. The union says it wants the House Committee which consulted on the Bill to have sufficient time to review and consider the issues raised by stakeholders at last week Thursday’s meeting. The teachers also want the issue of Corporal Punishment – which the Bill seeks to outlaw completely – to be discussed at greater length with the Ministry.

Well, speaking with Education Minister Patrick Faber this evening – the Union will get what it wants – kind of. He explained that the Bill will be passed through the House and Senate as planned – but there will be a clause on the issue of the outlawing of corporal punishment which says that it will come into effect only after the minister signs it into law through a statutory instrument. But it’s not an indefinite suspension of that clause.

Faber told us that he is he recognizes the need for an alternative to Corporal Punishment and will set up a task force – hopefully with union input to find alternatives. After six months – he says he will sign the statutory instrument bringing that clause into force in time for the starts of the new school year. Of course, the situation remains fluid and to some extent it is volatile with talk that the teachers may choose to stage a demonstration on Friday in Belmopan. At this point though that is unconfirmed.