Children’s right to a classroom experience could be seriously limited once more if Malta continued to have the current rate of coronavirus spread, the Malta Union of Teachers said in a statement on Wednesday.

The union underlined the risks faced in schools from the spread of COVID-19 but also stressed that nothing could be better for students than teaching in a classroom.

Schools have been closed since March, soon after the first COVID-19 cases were detected in Malta. The Education Minister has said the plan is for the schools to reopen normally in September, but contingency plans are still being prepared.

The MUT said that all people need to shoulder responsibility for the decisions they make. Every decision is likely to have an impact on pupils, particularly a decision on whether schools should reopen in September.

The union said online teaching could never replicate what took place face-to-face in classrooms.

But the spread of COVID-19 was worrying everyone, not least teachers who were well aware that the classroom environment brought them in close contact with a large group of pupils in a restricted space.

Restrictions which could be introduced in other places of work could not be introduced in classrooms, the union said. 

While noting that masks, social distance and good hygiene limited the spread of the virus, the union said that schools were similar to mass events where a large number of people met in a restricted place where it was difficult to avoid contact.

Therefore, the MUT said, all those responsible needed to reflect on any decision which could create a risk of the spread of the virus, particularly to vulnerable people, but also children who had a right for the classroom experience. This experience could be seriously limited once more if Malta continued to have the current virus spread. 

Malta had 249 active coronavirus cases as of Wednesday, with a spike in cases which started following a weekend-long party inside a hotel continuing.