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Faith Nazarene Still A No-Go
posted (September 9, 2015)

Classes were closed today for the third day in a row today at the Faith Nazarene Primary School in San Ignacio Town. The teachers have been on sustained protest, and they are adamant with the management and the Ministry of Education that the current principal, Policarpia Pech, must be removed.

The teachers and parents allege that she has mismanaged the school, while Pech, who has gotten her attorney involved to fight on her behalf dismisses their accusations as fabrications, mischief and hearsay. The management of the Nazarene Primary Schools has been working hard to keep the school functioning, and they tell us that they have a formal complaint before the Teaching Services Commission for consideration on whether or not Pech should go as principal.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Education continues to look on in hopes that the school's management can resolve the dispute as quickly as possible. Caught in the middle of all of this are the 400-500 students enrolled there who have been forced to stay home while the rest the country continues with classes.

Yesterday, we got an opportunity to speak with Education Minister Patrick Faber who made a plea to the teachers on behalf of the students losing out on school. Here's what he had to say:

Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister of Education

"The managing authority of the school is first responsible to try to solve the issue. In this case it's the Nazarene Primary School management and so; as I understand it they are the ones who is taking this one. The ministry is involved, in fact our education officers and the district manager Ms. Carballo; and I've seen other education officers from the Cayo district centre be involved in the discussion, they have been involved in the discussion. But at this point it is not at a point where the ministry would necessarily go in and take a hold of the situation. We give the management a chance to work it out and in fact indeed if there are to be disciplinary measures it is the commission who I stress at this point is not controlled by the Ministry of Education; but by various different stakeholder bodies. The ministry if one of the stakeholders on the commission but there can be no kind of domination on the part of the ministry on the teaching services commission."

"We have tried to stay clear of infringing on the duty, the right of the management. They are the ones who are task with solving these problems and if we see that the problem gets out of hand and they can't handle it then and only then can the ministry intervene."

Daniel Ortiz

"How far does this situation have to unfold or get out of control before it is deemed allowable for the ministry to intervene?"

Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister of Education

"It is all relative and I like said; personally I am not privy to all the information to tell you how far it has gone but certainly we're not at the point yet where we believe that the management has failed completely in terms of handling the matter. There might be some moves that we would have done differently and we are there on hand to recommend."

"I say this to the parents and the community that are involved in that situation and I also make this point to other communities, other parents from other schools who might have similar or maybe a similar but at a lesser level the kind of disturbance or the kind of issues that the school has in Cayo; that we need to be very careful. That it is not ruled by the mob, we cannot just because we are not happy with something or a principal or a teacher for that matter; anybody who is engaged in education at the school level. Just simply because we are not pleased we go in there and we try to remove people by mob. There is due process and the system is set up for that to occur and I ask people to be patient. I know that sometimes there are a lot of tensions involved in these kinds of situations; but if we allow a rule by mobs then it is going to take us down a very dangerous path. "

We are informed that the San Ignacio Branch of the Belize National Teachers Union, and national President Luke Palacio will make an intervention on Friday. So that basically means that the students will stay home until next Monday, the earliest, and that's if a resolution can be arrived at before the start of classes then.

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