The shenanigans that went on at the Galaxy Hotel in Sliema on Friday night were ample proof of claims that the behaviour of some students who come to Malta to learn English is causing problems for hotel residents.

One understands that language school arrivals are helping hotels compensate for a decline in overall tourism and one also understands that these kids are potential return tourists, but something must be done to curb unruly behaviour.

“Normal” tourists have been complaining at some establishments, saying that language students are loud and disorderly – and we are convinced that such behaviour is the exception rather than the rule.

But this is where language schools have to start laying down some rules. Hotels also have a role to play, by disciplining trouble-makers as though they were adults who have breached the establishment’s code – as has often happened before.

Language students have been a lifeline to the hotel sector, but should we grasp this lifeline at the risk of losing out to the “family” tourist? If we keep having incidents where the behaviour of students annoys ordinary tourists, those ordinary tourists will simply go back to their own country and tell people about their experience of Malta and its language students.

So what must be done? Some hotels have taken steps to try and segregate language students from ordinary tourists, but this is not an effective solution. Many language schools insist that students should be alcohol free and they do not tolerate unruly behaviour.

But it needs to go further than this. Schools cannot expect to be the custodians of students only during school and excursion hours. Again, one understands that group leaders do actually stay with the students in the evenings and on excursions, but it is time to step it up to another level.

Ordinary tourist arrivals are falling and, as already said, it would be a tragedy to aggravate our losses by allowing small groups of disobedient students to disrupt the holidays of others.

A concerted effort is needed and language schools should take a tougher line. Of course, everyone should be given the benefit of the doubt – we are not talking one strike and you’re out. But students who are repeated trouble-makers should be disciplined by the schools themselves. And in extreme cases, as has happened before, students should simply be sent back home.

The president of the Federation of Language Teaching Organisations of Malta (Feltom) John Dimech said that the federation was trying to set up guidelines for language schools and hotels, in view of the situation, and an awareness campaign is being put into practice to “ensure we act accordingly next

season”.

But why “next season”? Why not now? If we know that trouble-makers are causing problems, then Feltom should draft an emergency set of guidelines and issue them now.

It seems to be the perennial problem that this country has. We rarely plan ahead – except for the immediate future. We do not look beyond the end of our noses and the result is that we do not make contingency plans.

It does not take much to know that these kids, coming over from other countries, are going to be noisier and more boisterous than regular tourists. So when agreements are drawn up between language schools and hotel owners to try and reach a mutually beneficial solution, these should be based on pre-established guidelines.

Better late than never, one would have to say. But this situation could have been, in part, addressed before it ever came to light. We are in a tourism slump and while recognising the importance of language students to the sector – we should not shoot ourselves in the foot with short-sighted solutions.