Clifton Grima has been named as the new Minister of Education, the government announced.

In a statement, the government said Prime Minister Robert Abela has appointed Grima as Minister of Sport, and will retain responsibility for sport, for which he was responsible as parliamentary secretary.

Grima had been parliamentary secretary for youth, sport and voluntary organisations.

The voluntary organisations sector has now been moved to the Ministry of Inclusion and Quality of Life, within the portfolio of Julia Farrugia Portelli.

Grima becomes the fourth Education Minister in the last five years.

The Labour government had initally had Evarist Bartolo as Education Minister. He was succeeded by Owen Bonnici before the Education Ministry was moved under the responsibility of Justyne Caruana last year.

Caruana resigned before Christmas after the Standards Commissioner had ruled that ethics were breached when a 15,000 euro contract was awarded to her friend, Daniel Bogdanovic.

In a post on Facebook, Grima said he was honoured with the responsibility and said he will be working to see to the improvement of the education and sport sectors.

 

Grima’s appointment was welcomed by both teachers’ unions.

The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) congratulated Grima and said it looked forward to “working with him for the benefit of educators and students.”

The Union of Professional Educators (UPE) said it hoped “to build a strong relationship after failing with various administrations due to the lack of social dialogue and common sense in industrial relations.”

The UPE said Grima has a challenge to restore its trust in the ministry after the previous administration continued to ignore the legitimate rights for the UPE as a trade union.

It also said that Grima is “still shackled” by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Frank Fabri, “who should be under police investigation.”

“Unfortunately the Principal  Permanent Secretary seems to be unwilling to suspend him based on the Public Service Commission Regulations that allow for his immediate suspension pending investigation,” it said.

 

PN reaction

Reacting, the Nationalist Party said that Clifton Grima’s appointment as Education Minister does not mean that Justyne Caruana’s case has come to an end, noting that it still has many loose ends which have not yet been addressed by Prime Minister Robert Abela.

“Apart from the affairs related to Caruana, Permanent Secretary Frank Fabri is still working for the Ministry, despite the Standard Commissioner’s report, the PN said.

The Nationalist Party is demanding that Permanent Secretaries working in the public service “must do their duty and safeguard the interest of the sector from the abusive behaviour of ministers.”

“This abuse of power has cast an ugly shadow over the education sector which despite Caruana’s resignation and Grima’s appointment, still remains. The education of our children deserves much better,” the PN said.