Yes, this is how I would like to put it: back to work, rather than back to school. Why should we put the emphasis on schoolchildren? Most of these children, unfortunately, still have to carry on attending private tuition in summer. So actually, with school or without school, it makes little difference to them.

In my times, we were allowed to sit for O-Level and Matriculation examinations from as early as Form 3 and it was therefore understood why we had to go to private lessons. Nowadays, apart from those children whose parents are obsessed with exceptionally good grades, most quit private tuition immediately when they get to know that they have just made it through. So, the million euro question is: are schools delivering enough?

P. Camilleri, in Errands for school (TMID, 29 September) wrote: “is it such a difficult exercise for teachers to inform the school of what they would require of their students, and then give out one list on the first day of school?”

Although I tend to agree with this correspondent, I think that considering teachers’ long break (holidays), it may be somewhat difficult to start their ‘engines’. But as food for thought I would like to tell P. Camilleri what once a regular contributor wrote in Teachers and school transport (TMID 25 August 2006). He said: “...(teachers) usually start having meetings at their schools by the second week of September”. I will stop here....

C. Micallef

Fgura