Another scholastic year has come to an end.

Thousands of children can now look forward to a summer of fun, playing and staying up longer than usual until they return to their classes in September. They will be almost three long months of a break which allows them to spend more time with their families, many of them by the seaside.

It was yet another challenging year for the education system in Malta.

It was the first full academic year since the Covid-19 pandemic started.

In 2020, the scholastic year ended abruptly in March as the pandemic hit the islands, as it had done in many other countries. Since little was known about the virus at the time, and the vaccine was months away, children continued their learning process from their homes. It was not an easy time, as adjustments needed to be made by families, with the necessary equipment and technology needed to be provided to homes that did not have such luxury.

Teaching methods had to be changed, examinations were cancelled and there was an overall sense of uncertainty. Thankfully, both the teaching staff and the students were quick to get used to the new ways.

The scholastic year which has just ended brought with it a mixture of home schooling and traditional classes. But the summer of 2020 enabled the school administrations – government, Church and private – to come up with better plans.

Most teaching continued in classes, as per tradition, but there were instances when lessons were held online.

This is not to say that it was easy. The Covid-19 pandemic was in full force over most of the months between September and June, reaching a peak in March. There were fears that cases in schools would have multiplied easily. But it was not to be, as the measures that were put in place for teaching to continue were able to contain cases in schools.

It must also be remembered that this past scholastic year saw teachers going out on strike after the Christmas holidays. The industrial action last two days before an agreement was reached between the Malta Union of Teachers (which was later also endorsed by the Union of Professional Educations) and the government on the protocols to be in place in schools.

At present, the number of Covid-19 cases in Malta is low, with a handful reported every day. But this does not mean that the crisis is over. We do not know what is going to happen between now and September. Last year, in 2020, active cases had dropped to just three in July, only to increase sharply, first to hundreds, and then to thousands, later on.

And so schools must continue to be prepared. The government, as well as the Church and private sections of our education system, must continue to plan ahead and make sure that, once the summer holidays are over, the schools will be in a position to welcome back the students with all the necessary arrangements in place.

In the meantime, we wish happy holidays to the students and their families, as well as to the teachers.