The latest developments in the worldwide struggle against Covid-19 have given rise to concerns that go beyond the fear that we all share, of getting infected.

For better or for worse, we have come to consider science as a tool designed by “man” to control the environment in which we live. The air, the sea, land have come to offer new facilities by which humanity may live a better life. Science has equally provided more powerful methods by which to contain diseases. Never before did “man” feel so much in control of “his” destiny.

It might be that the experience of the pandemic is undermining this belief among many. Experts’ views about what needs to be done or not to counter the pandemic soon  have had to be revised. Instead of beating a retreat, Covid-19 has managed to advance.

To complicate matters, suspicions are openly canvassed about hidden conspiracies between scientists, politicians and leading business interests.

In this way the fear also grows that we are no longer truly in control over our surroundings.

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HOW OTHERS BEHAVE

As naturally as can be, we do our  best to ignore or excuse the unacceptable behaviour of friends, allies or political movements with which we agree, while at the same time feeling scandalised and shocked by such behaviour on the part of others.

It is not something that given how small the island is, happens only in Malta but is found everywhere. Not least in how political disputes shape up in international affairs, including between major powers. For instance, the way by which the US and its “Western” allies marshall their accusations against China because of its treatment of the Uighur people is greatly ironic.

Now I don’t want to be misunderstood: I certainly disapprove of how the Uighurs are being treated. But one cannot but help remembering the genocides for which the same accusatory powers are responsible even in their recent history (the Americans with respect to the indigenous “Indians” of the American continent, the British in Australia and Canada among others, the French in Africa...). Which brings to mind the proverb: To throw stones at others, one needs to be blameless.

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EDUCATION

All best wishes go to the new education minister Clifton Grima. The job he has been given is not an easy one and for the duration of this legislature, is bound to be a short one. He is inheriting a ministry that is of the highest national importance which despite the ongoing public relations with which it gets projected, comes loaded with many problems; and not just because of Covid, which still, did shake it up from the roots.

The fact that in three years we will have seen four different ministers of education in office, has not been a helpful factor in getting long term dilemmas closer to some resolution.

Is the huge recurrent and capital expenditure on education being effectively deployed? Is the best personnel available being attracted to the education system? Will unions find the right balance between their role as defenders of the economic intersts of teachers, and their other duty to be protagonists in the implementation of improved educational practice?  Most importantly, how are we going to wipe out once for all the stigma that Malta still has the highest rate in Europe of students who abandon their schooling early?

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BEST WISHES

A happy and prosperous New Year 2022 to the editor, staff and readers of the MALTA INDEPENDENT.