It is out of the question that schools will open during the summer holidays to make up for the time they were closed because of the spread of Coronavirus, said Malta Union for Teachers president Marco Bonnici.

"If our teachers were currently on holiday, we would consider saying that school should continue in summer months, but our teachers are working and working very hard to provide material for e learning, so their summer holidays should not be taken away," said Bonnici.

To contain the spread of Coronavirus, the closure of schools has been extended at least till the end of the Easter Holidays, 17 April.

In this situation, all teachers are working tirelessly to pass on educational material to parents in order for them to home-school children, Bonnici said. 

There are situations where the child or parent might struggle during home-school learning, and that MUT is currently in discussions with the Ministry to tackle these issues. “We can come across situations in which a child might not have the best internet connection, or that some parents will struggle to explain and help in certain subjects.”

Bonnici said that MUT is taking this situation into account and looking into the impact this period will have on the educational scholastic year. “We want to make sure no student suffers educationally during this period in time and no student will be penalised. We are currently working on plans for the next scholastic year.”

Throughout the past few days, numerous teachers have taken the initiative to help with homeschooling and posting the following text on their social media: “If you are homeschooling/remotely/digitally educating your kids, if you need assistance with understanding something that has been assigned to your child, or if you need more resources, just give me a shout. I’ll be happy to answer questions and help where I can. We’re all in it together.”