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VO-TECH teachers lobby for their salaries to be unfrozen

EducationVO-TECH teachers lobby for their salaries to be unfrozen

Training and licensing issues being considered by the Ministry of Education, says CEO David Leacock

Even as the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) has been trying to convince the Barrow administration that they need a long overdue salary adjustment due to rising cost of living pressures, vocational-technical (vo-tech) teachers say they are very disappointed that no one in authority has been heeding their cry for the Ministry of Education to revisit a blanket policy that they contend has cheated them out of years of increments because of conditions which, they say, are outside their control.

The wage freeze, the teachers told Amandala on condition of anonymity, has been in effect for almost three years now.

The teachers say that although they have gotten good and in some cases even outstanding performance appraisals every year, their increments are still withheld.

The annual increment amounts to $67 a month for those on pay-scale 8, and $68 for those on pay-scale 9, the teachers explained.

“That could pay a bill,” the teachers said.

BNTU Belize City Branch president Kathleen Flowers said that the freeze seems to be a penalty for the vo-tech teachers not meeting the minimum qualifications—which have, regrettably, been set higher than the level that teachers can attain in Belize.

“That is the quandary,” said Flowers, noting that there are no post-secondary degree programs in Belize for vo-tech teachers.

The teachers affected come from schools like Belize Rural High School, Ladyville Technical College, Sadie Vernon, Maud Williams, Gwen Lizarraga, and Edward P. Yorke High School; as well as some government-aided institutions such as Pallotti High School, she indicated.

There are more than 40 teachers in the Belize District alone who are affected, including those hired by the Government of Belize to teach at the ITVET schools, because they are unable to meet the requirements for a full licence.

Those requirements, according to Leacock, include minimum content knowledge in their area of focus as well as pedagogical/education training.

Amandala understands that a letter was written to Chief Education Officer Chris Aird, but no reply was received. So, two weeks ago Flowers and some concerned teachers visited the Ministry of Education, to see if they could get an audience with Aird. However, they were told that no official was in office. While waiting, though, they caught a glimpse of Deputy Education Officer, Alan Gennity, with whom they briefly spoke.

Amandala was able to speak with the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Education, former educator David Leacock, who told us that the ministry is aware of the problems and it is something they have been considering internally. He added that the ministry is looking at getting programs in place through the University of Belize, and they are also trying to get funding from the European Union to institute training.

We asked Leacock, why haven’t the teachers’ salaries been unfrozen? He said that the education rules are clear: unless the teachers have the required qualifications, the increments can’t resume.

According to Flowers, those who have reached the fourth point on their pay-scale and have not enrolled in a pedagogical/education program and who have not pursued advanced level training towards a baccalaureate program have had their increments frozen since the 2010/2011 school year.

Some have found their way around the “quandary,” said Leacock, by going to the University of Belize but getting trained in other subject areas, such as Math.

The vo-tech teachers we spoke with indicate that those teachers who pursue higher education in other fields end up moving away from their area of focus. They have resisted doing that, they said, because they love teaching vocational and technical subjects and believe that Belize and the youth need these programs, which are essential for the country’s development.

Flowers said that those teachers, most of whom are on pay-scale 8, will stay at the bottom of the pay-scale until something changes.

With the elimination of the Belize Technical College (BTC), which has since been subsumed under the University of Belize, minus vo-tech programs, many vo-tech teachers have nothing more than secondary school qualifications in that field. Those who used to attend BTC, Flowers said, are the ones that have more exposure.

The teachers said that the across-the-board rule is unfair, because it is not their fault that training is not available in-country. They also make the point that many of those teachers are single parents with mortgages and apart from not having the money to study overseas, they are unable, for logistical reasons, to leave for a substantial period to undertake studies overseas. The cost of such programs are prohibitive, Flowers and the teachers both shared.

Both the BNTU reps and the teachers indicate that the future retirement package of the teachers is also being affected, because unless their increments are made retroactive, they will receive a smaller financial package.
The teachers say that what is happening to them is also discouraging the youth who are interested in pursuing vo-tech studies, because there are no higher education facilities here and some parents tell them to pursue other options because vo-tech studies, unless a student is able to go abroad, are a dead-end street in Belize.

Flowers said that the BNTU Belize City branch is trying to help sort out the issues, and the matter is to be raised at the executive level shortly.

Amandala contacted BNTU national president Luke Palacio, who was able to speak with us briefly. He confirmed that it is an issue that the union is concerned about and have been discussing, but they have nothing definitive yet.

The teachers we spoke with say that vo-tech teachers are largely driven by their passion for their subject areas, and so one of their three priority issues is for a proper training program to be put in place, so that they can attain their full licences.

Mike Sanchez, a former BTC teacher, says vo-tech education continues to be a vastly neglected field in education, and that he has been fighting that fight for the past 30 years.

Sanchez is one of the few Belizeans who was able to study abroad, in Jamaica. He studied “building” at St. Michael’s College and worked with Rodwell Williams, Sr. Sanchez said that he learned quite a bit on-the-job, and he laments that not much value is being put on the experience vo-tech teachers acquire over the years. He admits that whereas his overseas training was beneficial, what he learned through experience and through continued self-education also bears much weight.

Sanchez said that as a society, we look down upon fields of work where people have to use their hands while elevating those whose work doesn’t demand so much labor. The misconception, said Sanchez, is that those who are not deemed to be smart should pursue vo-tech studies; however, he pointed out that with the computer age now upon us, everything now is electronic and the Three R’s of Education (reading, writing and arithmetic) are skills that vo-tech students also master.

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