Education minister denies proposed law will 'dilute academic input' of Maltese Language Council

Education minister Evarist Bartolo has moved to refute warnings by Maltese academics that proposed legal amendments will dilute the academic input of the Maltese Language Council.

In a statement, he said that the amendments have been proposed to widen the scope of the council and to open it up to a larger sector of people and organisations who are “qualified and competent in Maltese”.

The Akkademija tal-Malti, the Departments of Maltese at the University and Junior College, the Institute of Linguistics, the Ghaqda tal-Qarrejja tal-Provi tal-Malti, and the student organisation Ghaqda tal-Malti on Sunday warned that the proposed changes will mean that the majority of council members will not be qualified in Maltese.

As it stands, the council is composed of 11 members – the chairperson, one representative each from the Akkademija tal-Malti, the University’s Department of Maltese, the Institute of Linguistics, the Associations of Maltese, the Attorney General, the Arts Council, the Institute of Maltese Journalists, the Education Division (nominated by the education minister), and two of the heads of the council’s technical committees.

However, Bartolo has proposed that the council be extended to 13 members – to include representatives of the Broadcasting Authority, the University’s Department of Translation Studies, the Book Council, and book publishers, and to remove the heads of the technical committees.

“Following the government’s proposals, the new council should have 13 members, six of whom will be qualified in Maltese while seven will not necessarily be qualified,” the academics warned. “We do not agree that the majority of council members could be people who are not fully qualified in Maltese, our national language.

However. Bartolo has insisted that the four organisations who will be added to the council have as members “competent and qualified people who can contribute to the council’s work”.

The academics had also criticised the proposed changes in the appointment of the heads of the council’s technical committees. As it stands, heads are appointed from a list of people drafted by the Akkademija tal-Malti and the Department of Maltese, but the draft proposals will allow other council members to put forward their recommendations.

Bartolo dismissed the academics’ warnings that this chance will allow non-qualified people to nominate technical committee heads, arguing that the final decision will remain the council’s/

“The proposed amendments are the result of a long and extensive consultation process wand were drafted by a consultative committee composed of established and renowned academics, including the President of the National Council of the Maltese Language.”