[WATCH] 80 primary school classrooms without a teacher as MUT faults government over shortcomings

There are 80 primary classrooms without a teacher in State schools as the Malta Union of Teachers demands government own up for its shortcomings.

With schools scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, the educational authorities are scrambling to find teachers to fill in the gaps.

MUT President Marco Bonnici said the situation showed that the ministry was not prepared for the current situation in schools.

He was speaking at a press conference organised by MUT to mark World Teachers’ Day in which the union demanded the government shoulder responsibility for the shortcomings in the schools reopening process.

In an attempt to make up for the missing teachers, the ministry has issued an expression of interest to allocate peripatetic teachers to regular primary classrooms.  This would see art, PE and PSD teachers being assigned classrooms.

Asked whether these teachers have enough time to prepare work for all subjects they would have to teach, Bonnici said the union could not judge the success of the scheme as yet.

“While we are pleased with the fact that some teachers are interested in taking on the role, the union can only go day by day before judging the success of the scheme,” he said.

Bonnici said the government is still not taking the pandemic seriously whilst it is continuously minimising its effects, including when reporting deaths.

Continuous mixed messages were inhibiting schools and educators from carrying out their work, he added.

Bonnici remarked over the double standards in enforcement, noting how mandatory measures in schools are repeatedly broken in workplaces and by government officials seen in the media.

"Consistency is necessary and needed everywhere - in every workplace, in every entertainment establishment, and every school," Bonnici said. 

The union called on the government to stop using educators as scapegoats for its lack of planning.

"Attempts to portray educators as lazy or frightened to return to schools, or worse to use some individuals to attack educators and the MUT, are clearly indicative that the government wants to shift the blame of its shortcomings on others," he said.

Bonnici also criticised the speculation surrounding information on positive cases in schools, saying that speculation will only continue unless the government decides on how information will be gathered and passed on consistently.

Bonnici said online and in-school learning were not interchangeable and educators will not be able to effectively split their time between students in schools and students online.

"The MUT shall protect educators from pressures to double the workload to attend to this situation," Bonnici said. 

The union said it will be conducting a symbolic gesture on Wednesday, encouraging teachers to post a banner on their social media pages calling on the government to take the pandemic seriously.

Reallocation of peripatetic teachers to classrooms - faculty dean not on board

After an expression of interest issued by the Directorate of Educational Services to allocate peripatetic teachers to regular primary classrooms, Education Faculty Dean Colin Calleja commented that quality education should not be compromised over "misconceptions of educational relevance, intelligence and human development."

"The Faculty strongly recommends that the Directorate should first make sure that all those who will be given new duties are in fact qualified to each in a generalist primary context," he said.

The Dean also expressed concerns over the prioritisation of certain subject areas over creative activities. "Removing teachers from their regular duties teaching subjects like Music, Physical Education, Art and so on reinforces curricular prejudices that place subjects like these beneath others in an imposed hierarchical structure," he said.

UPE reiterates calls for online learning

Citing worried pleas from educators and alleged positive cases in schools, UPE has again asked the Education Ministry to "reconsider the reopening of schools, and to invest in an alternative strategy".

"At this point in time, the union is amazed that the ministry has not seen the necessity of adopting an alternative plan: online learning," a statement read.

The UPE has long called for the physical school reopening to be scrapped altogether in favour of an online learning strategy.