The Education Ministry has denied requiring teachers to search for suspicious items following bomb threats made to various schools on Tuesday.

It said that a document referred to by media and the Malta Union of Teachers had been prepared in 2010 under a previous administration.

The document stated that trained school staff members must search for suspicious devices whenever schools receive bomb threats. It came under fire from the Malta Union of Teachers, which instructed its members to ignore it.

“The communication states that the Head of School needs to appoint a ‘search team’ to search for bombs in schools. This is unheard of and the MUT will not accept that educators search for bombs in schools during a bomb scare,” the union said in a statement. 

The Education Ministry denied circulating the document and said it would not burden people with tasks they were not trained for and which could endanger them. 

The document referenced by the MUT was drafted in 2010 and was not circulated in the past 10 years, it said. No complaints about its contents were ever received. 

It said it would continue to update protocols and policies in the context of current realities,  in consultation with those concerned. 

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