Last night, we gave you extensive coverage of the march, the rally, and the protest against crime which the teachers held in Belmopan on Day one of the Budget Debate. But, one part of the event which we didn't get a chance to share with you is a list of demands that the Belize National Teachers Union is making of the Barrow Administration to address crime and violence against women and children.
Now, if you'll remember, last year, when the teachers made demands of the Government, those were mostly to address good governance. And those demands culminated into a 11-day strike from classes.
At this time, there is absolutely nothing to indicate that things will escalate to that point, but these are demands, and here's what the teachers think will help to improve the fight against crime:
Ruth Shoman - Member, BNTU Executive
"So, here are what we are demanding from our government. 1, councillors must be instituted from primary all the way to tertiary level, now; more social workers available in every district; social workers properly equipped with necessary tools to carry out their job, more training for teachers so that they can be better equip with all these horrendous situations that our children have to face. We have truancy officers gone invisible. We need to know where they are, we need to ensure that the truancy officers are held accountable for not doing their jobs. We need to ensure that age appropriate sex education classes are incorporated, as well as conflict resolution, in all our schools. We currently have laws that prohibit proper and efficient collecting of data in rape cases, which result in the lack of prosecution of these perpetrators. Because a lot of our demands, in fact our demands are embedded in the Manifesto for Linda, we don't believe in re-inventing the wheel. So, by show of hands, I'm asking the BNTU if today, we are going to embrace and ensure that the Manifesto for Linda is carried out and ensure that we see its fruition all the way to the end. Kindly raise your hand."
So, you heard, the teachers have basically given an endorsement to Lisa Shoman's Manifesto for Linda, which she and others came up with to address inequalities in the society where women's rights don't get the respect they deserve. Yesterday at the teacher rally, we asked Shoman about the boost in support from the teachers:
Lisa Shoman - Creator, Manifesto for Linda
"The Manifesto for Linda tries to address family violence, domestic violence, but more wider family violence, and today, my wider topic is crime and violence, the urban terrorism that we're facing, the problems, the real problems that we have in our society, and how teachers can work together along with the rest of us to try and make Belize a less violent society."
Daniel Ortiz
"Do you today's endorsement from the teachers as an elevation of your Manifesto for Linda?"
Lisa Shoman
"Oh yes, absolutely. It's a huge thing to be asking teachers to endorse this, and I think that this will be a giant leap forward for the goals and aspirations of Manifesto for Linda."
We'll keep following to see how these demands to the Government will be addressed.
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