Were earlier school hours part of the roadmap? - PN

Students, parents and teachers will suffer if a proposal to open schools earlier in order to alleviate traffic is accepted, the Nationalist party said.

Shadow minister for transport Marthese Portelli and shadow minister for education Therese Comodini Cachia said that despite promises of a ‘roadmap’, traffic had gotten worse, even while schools are closed for the summer. No children, parents or teachers should become victims of ‘the government’s incompetence’.

Comodini Cachia said that under the Labour administration, traffic had become the foremost concern for people, as a MaltaToday survey had revealed. She questioned whether opening schools an hour earlier was part of the roadmap PM Joseph Muscat and minister Joe Mizzi had promised before being elected.

“A number of entities have expressed disagreement with the government’s idea, including students themselves, the Chamber of Commerce and the MUT,” she said.

Portelli said that the government was now entertaining an idea put forward by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil ten months ago. He proposed the provision of subsidized public transport for all students.

“Ten months ago, Muscat and Mizzi dismissed the PN and tried to ridicule the idea. Now, they are taking up that proposal,” Portelli said.

She added that the proposal would need to be studied carefully but it could potentially ease the traffic problem caused by an increase in cars on the road during school time.

Portelli called on the government to acknowledge that traffic is not ‘a perception’, to come clean about whether it ever had a roadmap and whether opening schools earlier was part of it, and finally, to take concrete action to address the traffic problem.