The MUT has launched a national petition requesting the Education Ministry to withdraw the controversial circular which censors educators' voices. Hindering the professional dialogue of educators in public is tantamount to censorship. This shall have adverse effects on teaching and the students' learning process.
MUT said it reaffirmed that educators have the right and duty to speak publicly about their profession, the education system and the way education affects students.
Educators, parents, students and the general public are invited to advocate against censorship of educators. The MUT invites everyone to participate in the national petition against censorship of educators. The petition shall be presented to the Education Ministry. The petition may be filled by clicking on link below.
https://forms.gle/wvgFGXchLAH58z466
The petition was launched a day after a teacher was reprimanded for speaking publicly about the profession and the education system.
The teacher, Joanne Mallia, was told off by their headmaster after she spoke out publicly against a new Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) system that introduced constant assessments. However, the teacher defended her headmaster telling Times of Malta he was just following orders of "someone from above".
In a separate statement, NGO Repubblika expressed solidarity with the teacher, saying that what she experienced was serious in the context of having an educational system which should encourage people to speak up.
The incident is more serious considering that the order to censor the teacher came from "above", the NGO said.
It is useless said teachers are professionals when they need a permit to speak about their profession.
The NGO said it expected the Education Ministry to condemn the incident.
The headmaster had posted on social media saying that he was not following any orders when he discussed the matter with the teacher. He added he had not intimidated anyone. "I asked two things: whether she asked for permission like every public official and, more importantly, to provide names of students she mentioned in the programme who were missing school because of the stress caused by assessments. This so that we can help them as, for us, students' wellbeing is a priority," he wrote.