‘Unwritten policy’ bars circus children from attending public schools

An Italian and three Bulgarian children travelling with an Italian circus have been prohibited from attending public schools in Malta because of the short period they are staying.

The children, whose age varies between 6 and 12, came to Malta with Circo Fantasy at the end of October and are to stay on the island until January. Given that the circus planned to stay here for at least two months, the parents wanted to enroll their children in a government school, like they do when they are performing in other European countries.

According to a 2008 study on the school education of children of occupational travellers in the EU, the preferred support measures include distance-learning, mobile teaching units or boarding schools. Attendance at local schools while travelling could be particularly difficult because of the shorter times spent in each place.

However, according to Circo Fantasy director Mario Sali, their circus never found problems when trying to enroll children in state schools abroad.

When contacted by MaltaToday on Wednesday, the Directorate for Educational Services confirmed receiving a request in mid-November to enroll the children.

"The unwritten but practiced policy is for children residing in Malta for a period of three months or more to attend our schools. However, the stay of these children is for a few weeks, with Christmas holidays in the offing," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said.

The spokesman said that children present multiple difficulties. "Language is a barrier as they cannot follow lessons in Malta or English," he said, adding that their duration on this island "is too short to allow our services to provide any beneficial help in this area".

However, Labour MP and shadow minister for education Evarist Bartolo is of a different opinion.

When contacted by this newspaper, Bartolo said that Malta should have accommodated the four students.

"I am sure that they were not going to put our system in a crisis. Why allow rigid bureaucratic regulations to come before children?" Bartolo said.

He added, that given that Malta has been a member of the EU for more than eight years, "we should become less insular in our mindsets, policies and decisions".

The ministry's spokesman also confirmed that the ministry sought legal advice with regard to the situation and has also looked at international legislation.

"But the situation with regard to education of circus children is extremely fragmented across the EU and there is no clear-cut policy," he said.

"The Ministry is concerned that these children do not seem to have a structured education pathway, with specific education and development goals."

The spokesman went on to add that "the interests of the children should be central and it should be ensured that they are benefitting from an adequate learning experience".