BELIZE CITY, Fri. Jan. 22, 2021– Mainstream news sources have been reporting on the circulation of a memo from the Ministry of Education (MOE) that informs the Belize Teaching Services Commission, the Belize National Teachers Union and the management of all schools that paid study leave for teachers will have to be suspended indefinitely.

According to the Chief Education Officer, Yolanda Gongora, the COVID-19 pandemic has placed a greater demand on the Education Ministry to exercise financial prudence. As a result, the MOE has had to re-examine and repurpose their resources in order to dedicate financial outlays to their necessary priorities which, unfortunately for teachers, does not include paid study leave.

During last week’s press conference held by the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Patrick Faber, he was asked to share his thoughts on how the matter is being handled, and he replied, “What the UDP would have done in an instance like that is to look in areas where the numbers of trained teachers are probably higher than in other areas and look to close study leave in those particular areas. Let’s say, for instance, in the primary levels. In the northern part, central and western regions, we have a higher number of trained teachers. The south, the situation there is not good. So we have to keep on going there; that is what we would have recommended.”

“But you would not have said to the teachers all together, no study leave for you, and these are the things that the government is, I think, failing. You have to communicate, and you have to find creative ways in doing things,” he further said.