Franco Farrugia and Giov Demartino (TMID, 10 January), were quick to reply to my letter regarding school holidays and homework.

The way they answered is the way all teachers answer when someone tries to touch their holidays.

They never seem to realise that they are privileged for working fewer days than others and for having fewer working hours too. They justify this by saying that they correct homework in their supposedly free time – well, this is a myth because most teachers correct their students’ work while still at school.

They do so in their free lessons, while having coffee with their colleagues, or during the break, or even while their students are doing some schoolwork. So, please, spare us your whining that you have so much to do when you return home from school.

If teachers are so stressed out because they work six hours a day then why do many of them give private lessons?

Mr Demartino said that teachers had “only” 11 days of holidays during the Christmas period. Well, those 11 are nearly half of what other common mortals have (24), which they have to distribute throughout the year, and most of which are taken up for parents’ days and school activities which are no longer held in the evening; and this to accommodate the teachers too.

Mr Demartino stops short of saying how many more holidays teachers enjoy during the summer – let me remind him that they amount to at least 10 weeks, for a total of 50, which is more than double what we common mortals have for the whole year.

And, yes, Mr Farrugia, I do believe that schools should remain open till 5pm. But don’t put words in my mouth. I did not say that teachers should act as nannies. In these extra hours, students would do their homework and seek any assistance they need from teachers, rather than from parents. And teachers could correct their students’ work and at the same time really work the eight hours every other common mortal does each day.

Maria Caruana

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