[WATCH] Legal notice on safeguarding youths in educational setting set to be published

Government to publish legal notice on safeguarding youths in the educational sector

The government has announced that it will be publishing a legal notice about the safeguarding of children and youths in the educational setting in the coming weeks.

Addressing a seminar organised by the Lisa Maria Foundation and the Malta Union of Teachers, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said that the legal notice would be applicable to all educational institutions.

The legal notice follows the publication of a white paper by the foundation and includes 17 proposals on the subject. The foundation was set up in 2014 in memory of teenager Lisa Maria Zahra.

During the seminar, Bartolo said noted that structures were slow to change. The document will be presented to the Cabinet on Tuesday, aiming at the publication of the legal notice in the coming weeks.

The consultation period had highlighted two realties: children who were harmed at the hands of their educators and educators who had been falsely accused of wrongdoing. The led to the tarnishing of people’s reputation as well as discouraging others from becoming educators.

“The legal notice will try to strike a balance between the two situations,” the minister said, adding that the measures would be applicable to public, private and Church schools alike.

The legal notice would include measures targeting recruitment procedures in schools, ensuring that proper interviews were held following public calls for the job, as well as a requirement for applicants to have a clean police conduct.

“Applicants will also need to sign a document to disclose any pending investigations or accusations, placing the onus on them to disclose all wrongdoings and ensuring that action can be taken against them if they refuse to do so.

“Schools are also to produce training to personnel including safeguarding of children. The legal framework will also allow schools to take action on any abuse that takes place inside or outside schools,” he said.

Bartolo added that he hoped the new legal notice would ensure more professionalism in the sector. 


Foundation co-founder Winston Zahra, Lisa Maria’s uncle, explained that the foundation had hoped to implement changes sooner, but that it was looking forward to the new initiative after having contributed to it.

“We had a choice to let our anger spiral or to find a way to create something positive. In this case ,we decided to safeguard children in educational institutions, where children spend a larger part of their formative years.”

Zahra said the foundation would continue to extend its services beyond educational years as well.

Zahra said that the foundation had three main objectives; to enforce an effective selection procedure for those working in institutions entrusted with the care of young people; where we discovered that some require more attention than others.another objective is the enforcement of moral boundaries, which might seem obvious to some.

“Another objective is to emphasise the appropriate and ethical use of social media by the young as a tool, but also raising awareness about the risks they can pose.”

The foundation proposed 17 proposals covering aspects like effective screening, enforcement of clear codes of ethics, easy and free access to sex offenders’ lists by educational facilities among others.

In a video address, shadow minister for education Therese Comodini Cachia praised the foundation for bringing the safeguarding of children to the fore. She added that the subject tackled all learning environments regardless of whether it is formal or informal education.

“The duty of care for children presents a number of responsibilities to ensure safety and avoiding damaging behavior.”