No evidence of drug use at Higher Secondary school

Police investigations have not uncovered any evidence of drug use at the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary in Naxxar, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo revealed.

He was responding to a parliamentary question by shadow health minister Claudette Buttigieg on what steps the government had taken to investigate claims made by a concerned mother to MaltaToday.

In an interview with MaltaToday, the parents of a 16-year-old student at the Higher Secondary school expressed their despair and frustration at how the school authorities failed to even notify them that their teenage son had practically missed all lessons since having started attending the school.

It was only when the couple attended Parents’ Day that they were informed for the first time that their son rarely attended lessons and he risked being expelled for failing to meet the 73% attendance rate.

The parents soon learnt that the reason behind their son’s truancy was marijuana trafficking.

“After the [publication of the MaltaToday report], the Higher Secondary headmaster asked drug squad officers to investigate the claims made in the newspaper,” Bartolo said. “The school passed every bit of relevant information it had on to the police.”

Bartolo added that the school was providing both the mother in question and her son with help before MaltaToday had published its report.