The Nationalist Party has accused Education Minister Owen Bonnici of disrespecting teachers in a Facebook post late on Tuesday.

"The minister tried to teach and dictate to teachers how they should go about their job," shadow minister Clyde Puli said.

He said teachers were professionals and deserved respect.

The Malta Union of Teachers was, therefore, right to have told its members to ignore what the minister said on Facebook, Puli said.

In his Facebook post the minister listed new requirements for teachers to account for their online teaching work.

He also told the teachers that "lessons are to have an introduction, explanation, examples, practice and feedback. The teachers are to use the formats they have always used for schemes of work adapted to present circumstances".

Puli said the PN wanted to show its appreciation for the work being put in by the teachers in difficult circumstances. 

Meanwhile, the Union of Professional Educators – Voice of the Workers hit out at the new requirements and told its members not to submit any new/revised schemes of work and records of work for the 3rd term since they had already done so at the beginning of the scholastic year. 

They were also told to refrain from handing over their lesson plans or any teaching resources since these are their intellectual property.