7 News Belize

Teachers Unions Opposed To C-Sec in July
posted (May 20, 2020)
Today, Education Minister Patrick Faber discussed the still-unresolved date for CSEC exams.

On Monday, the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) sent out a press release expressing concerns that CARICOM's Council for Human and Social Development was considering a date in July for the exams.

Their statement says, quote, "The... Union... is deeply concerned about the decision taken by the Council…to support the Administration of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) for the CSEC Examinations to be held in July 2020 contrary to the recommended position of the CUT for the sitting to be held in September 2020. The CUT believes that this unfortunate decision places the lives of thousands of students and teachers at risk, as all the issues surrounding the administering of the examinations have not been addressed." End quote.

Earlier on, you heard Faber say that Belize isn't ready for schools to re-open under the new COVID-19 reality. Well, the Caribbean Union of Teachers says that this is the case in all the CARICOM Member countries.

Their release adds, quote, "We are not confident that the governments of the region have demonstrated the level of preparedness for the planned reopening of schools in order to create a safe environment for students and teachers to effectively operate. We are aware that there are governments in the region who have re-opened schools and some will in short order. We consider such a move to be reckless unless the requisite health provisions have been made."

The Belize National Teachers Union, which is a member of the CUT, has publicly announced its support for the regional union's position.

So, when the press had an opportunity to speak with the Education Minister about it today, he was asked about the CUT's stance. Here's what he had to say:

Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister of Education
"There is some limbo, as I speak to you. I watch more attentively the remarks made by the Jamaican Prime Minister and the Minister of Education there in Jamaica, than I did the BNTU president, of course. And [I] listened as they announced that the exams will be held at the end of July, which goes contrary to what it is that we agreed in the COHSOD meeting. I had an opportunity this morning to speak to the chair, who is Minister of Education of Antigua and Barbuda, Hon. Michael Brown, who said that they are now doing kind of round-robin calling to ensure that we are all on the same page. Our position of agreeing with the rest of COHSOD - and I remind people that the decision of COHSOD comes when there is at least a two-thirds majority. So, as a 2/3 majority, we agreed on going at the start of July. They even said that a few of the exams would probably happen in the last couple of days of June and that we would go with that schedule. That did not come out of the sky for Belize. In fact, when we made that agreement, it was after doing a survey with the secondary schools."

"We have a situation in this country where these exams are needed. Many of our young people rely on these exams for the sake of getting their tuition scholarships, getting jobs, getting into universities, and higher-level institutions in this country. And the ministry is tasked with making policy and these decisions, and without picking a quarrel with the BNTU, that is exactly what we intend to do. So, for me the larger issue of contention today is what the regional COHSOD body of CARICOM is going to decide ultimately. I believe that decision was finalized sometime, but as you heard me say, it seems that this may still be up in the air, and I hope we can get some resolution to that."

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