The Malta Union of Teachers has welcomed the decision by the government to close all education institutions from Monday.

The government announced this evening that schools will close down on Friday and will remain shut until after the Easter holidays.

“The government has accepted the MUT’s proposal as presented this afternoon during the meeting held. The MUT shall be working with educators and respective stakeholders for the transition to online learning,” the union said.

Earlier, the union said it had filed a judicial protest against the government in view of the mounting number of cases and the large number of children who are positive for Covid-19.

The Independent Schools Association also welcomed the decision to close down schools.

The association said it was very concerned with the spiralling number of COVID infections within the community and in schools, “which is far too high even by European standards.”

It said that, whilst it appreciates that some important action had been taken recently by Government, more drastic action was certainly needed, including ‘circuit breaker’ provisions that drastically limit social interaction until the situation is stabilized.

“The strong measures that have just been announced are therefore welcome.  At this point the schools’ paramount concern in terms of their duty of care is to safeguard the health and safety of their communities: the students, educators, support staff and their respective families, whilst ensuring the ongoing quality of educational provision that they have always provided.”

As from Monday 15 March all ISA schools will move from the current hybrid online and in-class provision to fully online with their tried and tested synchronous systems. We will continue to provide quality teaching and learning online.