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Last night, we told you how the Ministry of Education is sticking to the decision that schools’ Christmas Holiday will be cut by 4 days to make up some of the time lost by the 11-day strike from the teachers. Well, tonight, the General Managers of the Pre and Primary Schools are sticking with the Ministry on this plan to resume classes on January 3, instead of January 9.

In a press release sent today, Denise Lamb, the Vice chair of the Belize Association of General Managers of Pre and Primary School stresses that on Wednesday, November 2, the general managers of the Pre and Primary Schools met with senior officials of the Ministry of Education where, quote, Â Ã¢â‚¬Å“Managers unanimously agreed that 6 school days will be added, January 3rd to the 6th, and April 10th and 11, 2017. The managers’ decision to add the six days will assist the schools to comply with the minimum 180 school days requirement. End quote.

So what about that mandatory Christmas vacation which the teachers spoke about in their release?  Well, the Association of General Managers says that with the addition of these 6 school days that should be vacation days, teachers are not being shorted at all since the rules say that they should get vacation leave of no less than 30 working days. They say that for this school year teachers will get 37 vacation leave days for the school year. 

And the managers also back up the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Carol Babb – who they say is empowered under the Education Rules of 2012 to determine when a teacher may or may not be on leave during the Christmas and Easter Break.

The statement ends, â€œIt is therefore the position of the Association that schools reopen on Tuesday, January 3, 2017.â€￾ End quote.  The union has told its members to report back to school as usual on the ninth December.  We’ll see where this one goes next.