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Courtney Weatherburne, reporting
Mount Carmel teacher Maria Del Carmen Martinez is the life-force behind that fight with her two sided poster as her armor- jamming to Bob Marley's most popular protest anthem. This was the scene at 11:00, when the teachers were taking a break.

But earlier at 9:00, they were out on the streets, demanding their pay.

Robert Hernandez, Vice Principal, Mount Carmel Primary School
"Our teachers, we are demanded by the Ministry of Education, to do our best to ensure that we are able to deliver quality education but for our hard work, we also deserve our just pay."

And three teachers on the staff haven't gotten their pay in recent months, one of them, since last year.

Ana Pech has been teaching at the school for 29 years. She says she hasn't been paid since September 10th but she has still been teaching since then. Pech says although she applied for early retirement

she says she has a valid special license.

Ana Pech, Teacher
"I got my special license before my license expired."

Courtney Weatherburne, reporter
"When was that?"

Ana Pech, Teacher
"That was on August 17th and then I receive it and this license will expire until I am 55 years old that mean April 5, 2020."

But it seems that special permit wasn't considered because the Chairman of the Teaching Services Commission sent her a letter last week disapproving her continued employment:

Ana Pech, Teacher
"They sent a letter that I have been denied to continue in the teaching profession and for me to step out of the classroom."

Courtney Weatherburne
"Tell us how this is affecting you?"

Ana Pech, Teacher
"It is affecting me a lot, I have two of my children, because I have four children, two of them are studying abroad, I need to pay university, I need to pay all those things, bills, it is affecting me morally, spiritually, emotionally, everything."

It is also affecting 29 year old Roberto Valencia who was hired to replace another teacher who went on long leave. He hasn't been paid for his services either.

Roberto Valencia, Teacher
"There was a teacher who was going for a long leave, that was for the months of April, May, June. After she went and after the long leave period was almost over, the teaching service commission sent a letter to the school management, saying this teacher did not have permission to go on long leave. So they allowed her to take her long leave however teaching service commission says they are not going to pay the teacher who replaced her."

The Vice Principal says this mess is due to some breakdown in the school system.

Roberto Hernandez, Vice Principal, Mount Carmel Primary School
"There is where are seeing where there is a miscommunication within the system, maybe we can call it a flaw that happened somewhere."

Courtney Weatherburne
"Have those teachers or have you all tried to contact officials from the Ministry of Education to find out what's happening?"

Roberto Hernandez
"According to our principal our local manager, or I should say he has already contacted them but it seems nothing is being done out of it."

It is a very significant flaw, one that these Mount Carmel Primary School teachers will continue to try and resolve for their staff members and all the other teachers in this same situation.

Roberto Hernandez
"We are not only standing up for them, right now this is the immediate response we are giving but we know for a fact that in the whole country of Belize, other teachers have also been affected similar to how our teachers have been affected and this is a time for us to stand up and you know this needs to stop and we need to have effective communication to ensure we are able to solve these issues "

So at this point, the principal and staff are meeting with representatives from the Catholic Management, the teaching services commission and the Ministry of Education to figure out where the breakdown happened. When we spoke to the principal this evening, he told us that things look promising and they are sorting things out. He says they may not need to continue protesting next week. There are 41 teachers at Mount Carmel with a student population of over 900.

On a side note, vice principal Robert Hernandez says they have 4 schools under their management and several teachers from those schools are in the same dilemma. But the principal is optimistic that these issues will be sorted out and the kids can return to school and resume preparing for exam week.