Malta should not introduce limits on the number of foreign students in classrooms, Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) president Marco Bonnici said, arguing that schools should reflect the multicultural society in which students live.

Bonnici was responding to questions by The Malta Independent on Sunday ahead of the start of the academic year tomorrow.

 "I don't agree that there should be a limit in classrooms when it comes to how many foreign students there are," Bonnici said after he was referred to Italy's plans to introduce a maximum number of foreign students per class, as announced by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a few days ago.

He said Malta's schools operate largely according to geographical catchment areas, meaning schools in localities with larger foreign populations will naturally have a higher number of foreign students.

"If you have localities where you have an influx of more foreigners, such as St Paul's Bay, automatically you are going to have more foreign students," he said, adding that this was also a reflection of the population living in those towns and villages.

Bonnici said there were "many challenges" arising from the changing student population, including schools having to close or expand to accommodate changes to the number of students.

He linked these pressures to Malta's economic model, which he said is largely based on foreign workers.

"The economic model of the country, which is mainly based on foreign workers, is having a big effect on school infrastructure, both in terms of buildings and human resources," he said.

However, he maintained that these challenges should not lead to segregation in classrooms.

"We cannot say that we should segregate students in classrooms and that we should have a limit, because that is not society," he said.

Bonnici argued that schools should be a reflection of society rather than being separated from it.

He compared the issue to Malta's previous system of separating boys and girls in schools, saying that the country had eventually reached a broad consensus that this idea was not the right approach.

"If our society is made up of different nationalities who are living together, we cannot look at the school as something different from society," he said.

Bonnici said, however, that additional courses or units could be introduced to help foreign students integrate into Maltese society and learn the language.

"We want everyone who lives in Malta to live according to our criteria and our culture and possibly become one of us, and not be segregated into a ghetto of their own," he said.

He stressed that schools had a role to play in integration beyond providing academic information, particularly through language education.

Bonnici said he had previously raised concerns about the use of English rather than Maltese with younger children, arguing that children absorb languages particularly quickly at an early age.

He called for a clear language policy setting out at what age Maltese should be promoted and taught, warning that failing to promote the language at an early age could make it more difficult for children to learn it later.

He also raised concerns about reports that Maltese as a foreign language was no longer being taught at primary level to foreign students.

"I asked the ministry and they did not respond to us, but it seems that it is no longer being taught, which is a bigger problem at this point," he said.

Bonnici said a shortage of resources could potentially explain the change, but argued that this should not mean Maltese language education is stopped.

"It doesn't mean that it should be stopped. Rather, they should see how they can get the resources so that it continues to be taught," he said.

Turning to the start of the new scholastic year, Bonnici said a number of challenges remained in State schools, including an administrative shortage of deputy heads in several schools.

He said the shortage could affect the operation of schools as the new scholastic year gets underway.

The MUT president said the union regularly passes feedback and concerns to the Education Ministry and had received responses over the years.

However, he said each new scholastic year brought both new and existing challenges, particularly with a new education minister now in place.

"It is a new year, new challenges, and obviously old ones as well," Bonnici said.