Education Minister Justyne Caruana has said on Monday that the claims made by the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) that primary state schools are facing a shortage are ‘made up’ and ‘false’.
Shortly before the press conference held by the Ministry for Education, the MUT addressed a press conference outside the Education Ministry. It said that some 150 primary school classes were without teachers and claimed that the Education Ministry was unprepared.
Education Minister Caruana reacted to such claims, counter-arguing that this is not the case.
“Our message is one that offers serenity. Everything is prepared and on Wednesday students will receive their education within schools, not only with the presence of a teacher in class but with a qualitative education,” Caruana said.
The Education Ministry also expressed its confusion over the complaints made by the MUT.
Education Ministry Permanent Secretary Frank Fabri said that “throughout our discussions, it was made clear that we would be using the method and protocols that were used last year. The MUT were informed by such decisions and the deployment process had to begin after the meetings with the union were finalised.”
Official discussions had started on 24 August, but the MUT insisted on meeting with its members on 22 September.
The total number of additional classes for this scholastic year amounted to 109.
Caruana explained that this figure, which is 45 more classes than last year, resulted due to two factors – the protocols implemented due to Covid-19 pandemic and the increase in student registrations within the state’s education system.
“Since students within classrooms need to be socially distanced, this automatically increased the number of classes. A total of 109 additional classes were due to the Covid-19 protocols, whilst the remaining 22 were due to the increase in registrations,” Caruana said.
Currently, the department of education employs a total of 500 peripatetic teachers. 81 of those teachers were called to teach a primary class instead of a peripatetic subject, with 22 out of 500 who applied voluntarily to teach a primary class this scholastic year.
“We can assure that despite the use of peripatetic teachers, children’s services will not be impacted in any way. Thus, students will still have subjects like music and physical education,” Caruana said.
On Saturday, peripatetic teachers were deployed to fill in the additional classes.
Education Permanent Secretary Fabri also highlighted that on 16 April the Education Ministry issued a call for teachers which remains open to this day.
He also expressed his confusion on why the union is claiming that the Education Ministry is unprepared and saying that there was no agreement.
“Throughout our discussions with various stakeholders, including the MUT, it was clear that we have been preparing for this scholastic year since April. We cannot understand the unions’ arguments and attitude as we have always, and still are, open for discussions.
We risk losing last year’s progress and work if decisions are not taken. Consequently, we had to take legal action and file an application in court for a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the union to stop industrial action by educators,” Fabri said.
Caruana explained that if the directives made by the union remain in place, a total of 33 peripatetic teachers who were assigned to teach a primary class will not go to school next Wednesday.
“Although we have another 30 teachers who we can assign to teach a primary class, this will only cause further problems which we do not want, as we would have to take up another 30 peripatetic teachers,” Caruana said.
The Ministry for Education wants to offer peace of mind to the public as the department of education “has always followed a plan and strategy and has always worked on addressing issues that arise from time to time.
In the context of a pandemic, we must remember that the virus is still with us and as a Ministry we must address any problems that arise,” Minister Caruana said.
She added that despite the challenges of the pandemic, Malta should be proud with what it has achieved as the doors of schools have re-opened for all students and educators.
The main difference between the situation in 2020 and 2021 is the vaccine against Covid-19 offered to teachers as well as to the cohort of 12-year-olds.
“While we have learnt a lot from last year, we are at a more advantaged position this year,” Caruana said.
She highlighted that the Ministry’s message on the opening of schools was always clear, saying that students should receive their education within schools. Thus, “we wanted to ensure that at the start of the scholastic year, all children will physically return back to school.”
Protocols within schools were also implemented and an assessment was carried out.