In early 2010, when I was an activist and council member of the MUT, I had a vision for MUT's strengthening of its professional remit. I was envisaging that amendments were required in the MUT code of rules to introduce a separate arm of MUT which would tackle the professional remit of the trade union. I shared my vision throughout the decade that followed with fellow council members and officials. The vision was being shared and supported, slowly but steadily.
The vision gained momentum from 2015 onwards following the tough decision taken by the union to close its publications section and to stop issuing the children magazine Saghtar. As MUT's senior vice-president at the time, I had made the announcement of the decision in the media and there was a wave of disappointment from educators and the general public for the decision to stop Saghtar.
The late Professor Oliver Friggieri, one of the founders of the magazine, requested a meeting to discuss the decision. This meeting was held during the same period and whilst sharing his disappointment and offering help, he was pleased to learn that MUT had fresh plans to strengthen its professional remit and to re-issue the Saghtar magazine in the near future. He also suggested that the name Saghtar should be used in our new venture. Subsequently, the professional arm of MUT was to be named Fondazzjoni Saghtar.
Work on the statute and registration of the foundation intensified from 2017 onwards and by 2019 we had the required structure in place. The Covid-19 pandemic halted our plans to launch the foundation but we managed to redirect our work to a massive project - digitising all the edition of Saghtar from 1971 until 2015. This work was carried out during the partial lockdown of 2020 with extensive hours of work dedicated to carefully scanning all the editions and to digitise them through the platform that was being set-up during the same period. The platform of Fondazzjoni Saghtar - saghtar.org.mt - which includes information about the foundation, a shop and all digital editions of the magazine, was finished by June 2020. The Saghtar Foundation could therefore be launched.
The launch was carried out by the then Education Minister Owen Bonnici together with Ms Elaine Germani, the first Chairperson of Fondazzjoni Saghtar. It was a memorable event which saw the transformation of the MUT through a dedicated professional organisation which foresees the professional aspect of the union. Almost five years have passed since the launch and the foundation is now very well established in the Maltese educational sphere. The popular Saghtar magazine now re-issued in a printed format and in a digital format is back in schools, a new twin publication named Saghtarin for the early years' students has been issued, together with various initiatives including publications and projects.
The latest project launched by the foundation is a book on etiquette called Il-Ktieb tal-Etikett u l-Manjieri Tajba. Launched few days ago with Education Minister Clifton Grima at St Joseph Mater Boni Consilii school, the book provides helpful etiquette and good manners tips to students and is meant to generate discussions about the theme in schools and beyond. Ably researched by Sergio Grech, written by Chris Giordano, illustrated by Nadine Debattista Briffa, designed by Robert Caruana and printed by Printit Ltd, the book shall be distributed freely to all Year 6 students in all schools in Malta and Gozo thanks to the support of the National Book Council.
The work of Fondazzjoni Saghtar is ongoing and we will soon launch of a new service through the provision of new courses which are being offered by the foundation. More information about these initiatives can be found in saghtar.org.mt and in the Saghtar App. The foundation's remit is being extended and so is the work of MUT.
Marco Bonnici is president of the Malta Union of Teachers