The Malta Union of Teachers was not consulted on some of the budget suggestions before the budget was announced and as such have certain problems with proposed measures.

The MUT does not agree that times for schools be changed in order to help solve the traffic problem, it said, adding that this particular suggestion was not discussed.

The Union believes that the time has come to handle the problem of traffic in an effective way and that secondary school students be given access to free public transport. "This would solve several problems including traffic issues, bullying on private school transport where supervision is not present and would even allow for informal education regarding student life.

Education expenditure will increase by 10% the MUT said. "Considering that 2.5% of this will go towards increased wages, and substantial cost will come on sabbaticals and other measures, the remaining funds will likely be too few to invest in educating teachers to ensure quality teaching and reducing class population. In addition, the inclusion of some 2,000 foreign students in schools over the past months means an addition of €8 million in recurrent expenditure will also come from this 10% increase".

Support staff and minor staff do not seem to be addressed within the budget and more so, capital expenses such as the funds needed to replace old laptops are also not addressed. The Union concludes that when taking into account this 10% increase, it is not enough.

The Union welcomed the proposal regarding absenteeism , however would have liked to see measures taken against parents who are negligent towards their children and who do not want to support their child's education.

A question was raised by the MUT regarding the €200 for certain pensioners, as it is not clear if past pensioners would benefit from this scheme.  

Third Pillar Pensions were also not discussed in the budget, the MUT added.

With regards to children benefits, the MUT said that the fact that these will be reduced should parents work rather than be completely lost is a very positive pace, however the Union is not certain of how this will help parents whose skills are too low to find work with a decent pay.

Lastly, the Union wanted concrete measures to see all parents receive training on how to educate their children at home.