Disability commission loses second bid to suspend MUT directives

A court has rejected a second request to suspend directives issued by a teachers’ union, which applicants argued instructed Learning Support Educators (LSEs) of children with disabilities not to attend to children in school during exams.

A court decree, handed down by Mr Justice Aaron M. Bugeja on Thursday, rejected the second request made by the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD), together with parents of a child with a disability – Rebecca Bonello and Neil Crossey - for a warrant of prohibitory injunction to be issued to stop the Malta Union of Teachers’ (MUT) directives.

The MUT directives, issued on June 3, were in force between June 9 and 26.

The directives instructed educators in state middle and secondary schools to adhere to the original examination schedule.The CRPD, alongside Bonello and Crossey, requested the suspension of the directives, arguing that they led to students with disabilities being left without essential support from LSEs during their school exams.

This request was initially rejected on 13 June by a court, presided over by Mr Justice Henri Mizzi, as it found that the request was asking to stop something from happening, although the directive had already been issued.

Instead, the court suggested that the CRPD should have filed a request that asked a party to take action.

Despite this decree, the CRPD, together with the parents, effectively filed the same request to a court presided over by Mr Justice Aaron M. Bugeja.

Although the exam period has ended, the applicants argued that the directive will be in effect again next year, as the directive does not indicate an end date.

The court noted that since the exam period ended, there was evidence that the directive was causing imminent harm, and the court cannot issue a warrant of prohibitory injunction based on hypotheticals.

The court also noted that, although the applicants claimed that children with disabilities and their parents were suffering due to these directives, the applicants did not present any evidence showing this.

Despite these claims, the court said that the child of the parents was given assistance by an LSE during his exams after they had complained.

Thus, the court rejected the applicant's second request to suspend these directives.

Responding to the court's decision, the MUT accused the CRPD and the Inclusion Ministry of "mounting an attack" on the union by "blackmailing" it with a narrative that portrays the MUT as being insensitive to students with disabilities. 

"The MUT has been a pioneer in inclusion in Malta and has introduced inclusion in schools through the provision of LSEs and dedicated inclusion programmes well before the enactment of the CRPD or its Ministry," the MUT said.

Lawyers Keith Borg and Rebecca Mercieca represented the MUT.