The attention that the media and Parliament have given Ninu Cremona School (Gozo) would make one think we were harbouring public enemies.
Forget embezzling VAT money, corrupt judges – taking a sickie when not sick, taking a coffee/ cigarette break outside school during a free lesson are the crimes that cannot be tolerated! And now lies are being spread of a tyrannical head forcing us to attend meetings causing a sudden rush for medication, making our students wonder why their teachers suddenly have that ‘night-of-the-living-dead’ look! Has Ninu Cremona School become a smokescreen for something else? Strange how we’ve been hit with lies, starting from being blamed for incidents in another school.
If everyone is so concerned with investigating Ninu Cremona School, why not investigate why we were blamed for the incident of abuse at the girls’ school? Why not investigate why the Ministry of Education issued a statement giving a false picture of teachers’ take-home pay and is still refusing to correct it? Or the accusations I made of discrimination by the same ministry that in two years still refuses to quote the law that supports their hiring me at reduced wages for not having a vote? Or why was a sick day taken from me when I attended a three-day workshop voluntarily and missed one day!
However, back to Ninu Cremona School; I have to admit that things go on there of which the public is unaware and I feel it’s my duty to invite the media to investigate: Come and see how the teachers supported and helped a child fulfil his dying mother’s wish! Come and see teachers and students working together in charity and school fund-raisers! See the teachers during their free lessons meeting parents and guidance teachers to discuss the wants of a child with special needs! The teachers who leave a sick child home and still come to work, or the teachers that face a class of children during outbreaks of meningitis and swine flu! Investigate why teachers still on crutches and in pain return to work! And what about Parents Day which a certain Daphne described as a leave-day wasted – we teachers look at it as an investment in your child’s future, Mr S.C. and believe me, Parents Day is no piece of cake for most teachers, depending on subject – I had to sit for over four hours straight, skipping a break, trying to put nature’s call on hold for as long as possible to avoid facing grumbling parents who think teachers are automatons without biological needs! Investigate teachers who attend in service courses in Malta voluntarily, or those going to university after work to further their studies and return to Gozo late at night!
In my 16 years at Ninu Cremona School, I do not know of any student transferring to any other school, yet we’ve had students transfer from the seminary to ours, including children of professionals like doctors. So I think that despite our problems and failures, which every school has, we have our good points, which are not advertised. We’ve had our fair share of students who went on to achieve successful careers; a few of my ex-students are now back as teachers! What a reward to see a student leave the school a child and return a grown-up!
So let’s not crucify the teaching profession – yes, we are professionals! Make it a career not worth striving for and we’ll return to the early 1990s – remember when parents were protesting outside schools because their children were for months on end without a teacher or had a teacher with practically no qualifications whatsoever? We teachers are the men and women without faces – See Mel Gibson’s ‘Man without a Face’ and you’ll know what I mean!
Joe Falzon
QALA