Prime Minister Robert Abela’s idea of postponing the upcoming mid-term school holidays, usually held over carnival, has been shelved after the teachers’ union rejected it.

On Wednesday, Abela said it was his “wish” to postpone the mid-term break so that children could stay at school and the number of new COVID-19 cases did not spike. 

Abela made his remark in line with recent comments by the Superintendent of Public Health, Charmaine Gauci, that the opening of schools meant that families went out less and therefore mixed less, reducing the risk of infections.

In comments to Times of Malta on Thursday, Education Minister Justyne Caruana said the idea had been put to the Malta Union of Teachers but it turned it down. 

There are things we agree on and there are others where we do not, Caruana said. 

On whether schools could opt to keep their doors open, Caruana said that once no agreement was reached, the holidays are still on. 

On Wednesday the union said it would not even consider discussing the matter since the schools calendar is part of the sectoral agreement and cannot be changed on a whim. 

Caruana said discussions with the MUT on other issues are still ongoing. 

Meanwhile, the Secretariat for Catholic Education and the Church Schools Association told Times of Malta that while Abela’s proposal has its benefits, there were “various considerations to be made”. For such a measure to be successful, the Church said, agreement among all stakeholders was necessary.