Children with a disability let down at school

Mosta, with 19 children, is the worst hit, followed by Attard with eight and Zejtun five.

Most of these children have been left without an Individual Education Programme as the schools they attend still do not have an Inclusion Education Officer to draw up this programme. The Malta Union of Teachers has been pressing hard for these officers to be appointed and has told the Senior Management Team in schools not to draw up the Individual Education Programmes in the absence of these officers.

Eight children with disabilities are not attending school as they are being deprived of a Learning Support Assistant. These children should be attending the primary school in Fgura, Pembroke, Birkirkara, Kalkara and Zabbar,

Eighty-six young disabled persons under the age of 30 are still waiting to be admitted in an Adult Training Centre as there is no place for them and 48 of them are who are over 22 years old are still being kept on at resource centres that used to be special schools.

Out of 397 disabled persons attending Adult Training Centres, there are 86 between the age of 22 and 30.

Animals not equal

Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici told MP Franco Debono in parliament on Tuesday night that in the last 10 years there were two incidents where the police shot and killed two persons but they were not charged in court with murder as the inquiring magistrates concluded that they had acted in self defence. Other persons who kill others are charged in court with murder and then it is up to the court to decide whether they are guilty or not. All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.

Minister Mifsud Bonnici said that on 3 December 2002 the police shot and killed a man who was threatening to kill a person he was holding a hostage.

On 4 May 2007 the police shot and killed Bastjan Borg after he threatened them with a pen-knife.

In this case the police were criticised for not dealing properly with Borg who had mental health problems and who could have been brought under control without having to resort to killing the man.

Mater Dei and Maugeri's SIB

On 17 May 2012 Joseph Delicata, personal assistant to Mater Dei Hospital's CEO sent the following e-mail to all the Heads of Departments of the hospital: "On The Times and The Malta Independent (documents attached) it is being alleged that Mater Dei Hospital have or had connections with 'Maugeri Foundation'. We know nothing about this link. If anyone knows anything about this partnership can he kindly e-mail me (without copying the others) since we are preparing a statement to counter the issue. Kindly also check with your consultants. We would very much appreciate a quick reply for obvious reasons."

So far Mater Dei Hospital has not issued any statement. Perhaps the Physiotherapy Services of Mater Dei Hospital informed the CEO that they applied for EU Research and Innovation Funds with the Malta Council for Science and Technology together with SIB Laboratories Ltd and the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Malta on "the biomechanical response for the rehabilitation of patients suffering from neuro-muscular deficiency".

Milan magistrates are investigating officials of the Salvatore Maugeri Foundation who used SIB Laboratories Ltd to money-launder €15 million to accounts in Malta via the Bank of Valletta undercover of research projects in Malta and Russia.

The funds were sent by Italian company Periplo owned by SIB Ltd whose company secretary was David Gonzi, the Prime Minister's son, who resigned recently after news of the scandal.

The Malta Council of Science and Technology immediately suspended all links with SIB Laboratories Ltd once information about the money laundering scandal of the Salvatore Maugeri Foundation reached our shores.

Evarist Bartolo is shadow minister for education.