Education Ministry hits back at PN leader's claims of children taught in containers

The ministry said that PN leader Adrian Delia’s statements on Sunday were ‘completely incorrect and based on a campaign of falsities'

 

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia’s statements on Sunday, that students at the St Paul’s Bay school were being being taught in containers, were “completely incorrect and based on a campaign of falsities”, the Education Ministry said.

“What Adrian Delia said about is completely incorrect and shows how he uses sensitive issues like education for his own partisan objectives,” the ministry said.  

It was reacting to remarks Delia made during an interview on Net TV in which he took the government to task for allowing a situation where students needed to be taught in mobile classrooms. 

“Children learn in containers in third world countries. If this isn’t a certificate of the government’s failure in this sector I don't know what is,” Delia said, adding that this needed to be viewed in contrast to the PN building a school every year when it was in government. 

“We want our children in the best and nicest schools and not in containers,” he said, insisting that the PN wanted schools children would be excited to attend and be taught in.   

“[This is what we should be working towards] and not burdening them with more exams and heavier school bags. The government is only interested in free transport - not that we are against it and we will extend it if need be - but we are interested in the quality of teaching and the mentality that you can be better by learning.”

In response the ministry said that as regards the building of schools, the government had “in recent years” built more than one school a year.

It said that since 2013 several new schools had been opened, including in Ħad-Dingli, Ħal Kirkop, Ħaz-Żebbuġ, Pembroke, Għajnsielem (MCAST), Marsaskala. Another school in Qawra would soon be opening its doors, the ministry added.

It stressed that there was no container at the St Paul’s Bay school, or in any other school for that matter.

“Students in St Paul’s Bay receive an education in the best classes which are air conditioned, have all-in-one PCs, interactive whiteboards and every type of technology that this government has invested in in recent years,” read the statement.

“The fact that the building is pre-fabricated does not affect its quality or the learning experience.” 

Moreover, it was pointed out that pre-fabricated classrooms have been used since 2016 and that feedback on them had always been positive.

The ministry warned that the twisting of facts and the use of partisan rhetoric was to the detriment of the country’s students. “Education has always been a sector where common sense prevailed, beyond scoring political points.”

Finally, it said that with the country growing as a result of economic prosperity, the ministry would continue working together with the rest of the government to address challenges brought about by this growth.