Summer schools – The salvation of working mums

Marika Azzopardi

"How will I manage now? Who will stay at home with little Nicholas this summer? How can I keep the children occupied while I am at work? But what about supervision?"

These are questions which mothers of young children ask at this time of the year. Mothers don’t stop working in summer. They have to carry on with employment outside the home, regardless of the fact that their children have stopped school. The situation creates a major crisis. Mothers generally opt to work on a daily basis once their children reach school age, many a mum faces a dead end when schools close for vacation time.

No wonder that summer schools are sprouting out at every street corner. Non-state schools ranging from playschools through to senior schools all opt to carry on offering their services by promoting their summer programmes. Parishes also add to the offer by organising activities for children. Some employers try to work around the challenge. Some people believe that baby-sitting and child-minding can be happily left to grandparents. Reality is not so simple. Many grandmothers may be too old and too fragile to face childminding again. Others may be too young and may still have employment of their own. Many will not be too keen to be cooped up indoors caring for their grandchildren. The more conservative will insist that it is mothers who should care for their children. Unfortunately this simply can't always be done.

"This scenario is what led us to introduce Skolasajf seven years ago." Says Salvu Saliba. He's the National Organiser for Skolasajf. Mr Saliba and National Co-ordiator, Reno Schembri, have been with the project from its initial stages. "The proposal of involving children in summer schools was immediately popular we now have around 4,000 children participating each summer."

Children come mostly from state schools although Skolasajf also accepts students from church and independent schools. "There are about 340 university students who take the opportunity of teaching in summer to increase their knowledge and back-up their course work." 120 school heads, assistant heads or teachers act as co-ordinators in the schools.

Skolasajf, which is open for children of the fourth, fifth and sixth year, offers educational and recreational activities which complement standard education in an informal manner. "All primary schools participate and this year we are including new elements in our programme. One is a session in ‘Thinking Skills’, then we shall have a first time participation by Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, plus pottery classes." Another novelty is the involvement of the Federation of Underwater Activities which will present a precautionary programme for boys and girls who enjoy swimming.

"For the very first time special schools will all be opening for summer including those at Hamrun and Wardija. This means that all those children who attended primary school and required the assistance of a facilitator will still have this assistance available." Academic assistance is also offered to those who require it, through Programm Klabbsajf. Mr Saliba explained how this time 13 centres in Malta and five in Gozo will be open to welcome students. "A decision was made to start a pilot project which will see classes using the computer also in these summer sessions. We felt that is was a pity to have equipment lying idle throughout summer. If this project has a positive outcome, we will consider providing computer use in all classrooms in following editions of Skolasajf."