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This evening, the Office of the Prime Minister released a statement outlining the meeting Archbishop Kalenga had with the Prime Minister.

That press release notes that the Archbishop discussed a number of topics with the Prime Minister. Those included, quote, â€œthe current Belize National Teachers’ Union strike, and the fact that so many Roman Catholic schools are among those closed by the strike.â€￾

The release goes unto say, quote, â€œArchbishop Kalenga made clear that the interests of the children are paramount and that those interests require schools to be open and children and teachers to be in their classrooms.â€￾ End Quote.

In that brief encounter with him, the press did ask him to share his thoughts on the strike which continued for its third day today.

He gave the church’s firm perspective which settled last week’s uncertainty between the school management and the diocese, once and for all.  As we told you, General Manager Sister Barbara Flores made it clear that Catholic Schools are to remain open throughout the duration of the strike – which they have not. 

And that’s because as BNTU President, Luke Palacio’s put it on Monday, the church, not the manager calls the shots:

Luke Palacio, National President - BNTU
"But what that general manager needs to understand that the Catholic Church owns the schools. In fact the official name of that is Catholic Public Schools, it doesn't say Sister Barbara's Public Schools and so she need to respect the church and we ask her to respect the church. I'm told that she has since rescinded or at least reconsider what she has written. If that is so we want her to again understand this is not about any one individual; she wrote a letter to the minister of education which we saw it was copied to the Prime Minister. How far is she going to try and intimidate the teachers in the Catholic Management?"

Well, Archbishop Kalenga gave the final position of the church today. He made it clear that he would prefer that the teachers return to the class, so that the students could get back to learning. Here’s how he put it:

Archbishop Léon Kalenga Badikebele - Apostolic Nuncio of Belize/El Salvador
"I have to look after the children. That is the future. Where is the place of the children, the schools. That's where I want all my kids, boys and girls, at school. Now, if you have a problem, as it can happen in all the countries, I prefer the adults to deal with that, to negotiate, to pass their time in talking. Teachers are good for talking, for teaching. They have to go - I prefer the Opposition Party to the Government, to make up their minds, the civil society to go there. I don't want the children to enter in these problems. I want to see all the Catholic children at school, then we will speak. I don't know what is the positions in the matter, but I prefer children to be at school. That is the future of our country. If we are playing around with our children, we are killing them. As I want also the religion to be taught in the schools, all the school, no matter. No values, no future; we want a good, responsible tomorrow, honest to run the society, let our kids go to school and learn. Two problems, I can see it, as you say them yourselves, asking the government for good governance, and the problem of corruption, which is universal today in all the countries. Now, a question to you, where the problem of children in these two problems? The first problem, as some years ago, is the salary of the teachers. That I can understand, because that is touching the teachers, given education to our children. But this time, these two problems, children have nothing to do with that."

Archbishop Kalenga is a native of Congo, and as the Papal Nuncio of Belize and El Salvador, he is based in El Salvador.

The Government also seized on the shared position with the Archbishop. Their statement from today also says, that he also called, quote, "for the BNTU to return to the negotiating table with Government and for teachers to return to school. Children should not be punished, the Archbishop said, and issues between the BNTU and Government needed to be worked out through dialogue and not school closure. Prime Minister Barrow welcomed the Archbishop's, and therefore the Catholic Church's, position, and repeated Government's own call for the BNTU to suspend its strike and resume the discussions with GOB on the 3% salary adjustment and the good governance agenda. End Quote