Planning is critically important for any business activity. It is also the most challenging element of managing an enterprise because extraneous factors can destroy even the best plans and threaten an enterprise’s existence.
The language school industry in Malta is facing a bleak future. This is not just because of the impact of COVID-19 but because of some arbitrary decisions taken by the government.
A few weeks ago, the government authorised unvaccinated students to come to Malta, even giving them vouchers to help the language schools get back to some form of normality.
Lax controls and poor implementation of sensible social distancing measures to minimise the risk of the infection spreading have seen the incidence of positive COVID-19 cases rising sharply.
In a knee-jerk reaction, the government decided to close down all language schools and impose a condition that only vaccinated travellers can enter the island.
This latter measure has now been amended and non-vaccinated travellers will be asked to quarantine when they reach the country.
The lack of political will to enforce sensible regulations is endemic. When the medical rules for travellers aimed to manage the COVID risk were announced, little thought was given to the challenge of implementation. Checking manual vaccination records is an uphill task even for those enforcers who are trained and efficient.
The language school industry is an essential element of the Maltese economy. It generates income not just for language schools but also for other enterprises that provide accommodation, transport, entertainment and catering.
It is time for the government to launch a rescue plan for this industry before it is too late for it to recover from the combined effect of the pandemic and the failure of the government to manage the associated risks effectively.
This plan should also include interim measures to resolve the problems faced by international students in Malta that have tested positive.
A solution also needs to be found for students who have booked courses planned for the coming months. If such students have been fully vaccinated or are prepared to spend time in quarantine while they are here, they should be allowed to proceed with their courses.
The international media is understandably interpreting the recently introduced measures as a panic reaction by the government that suddenly realised that it was losing control of the situation.
This is not the kind of publicity the tourism industry and the language schools need.
The protection of locals from imported sources of infection remains of paramount importance. This can best be achieved not only by sensible rules like social distancing and mask-wearing but, more important, by strict enforcement of these rules that need to apply to both locals and visitors.
Anyone who has been to places frequented by students in the last few weeks must have been impressed by the false sense of security that prevails in these hotspots.
We have all learned so much in the previous 18 months to avoid declaring prematurely victory over COVID-19.
Malta has won an important battle against the pandemic by inoculating a record number of people. But the war against COVID-19 is still raging.
We need to ensure that viable sectors of the economy, like language schools, are not left to sink because of complacency and negligence on the part of the authorities.