The Prime Minister and the education and equality ministers met with a teacher whose student was withdrawn from school when his parents realised he was gay.

On Wednesday, Times of Malta revealed that a couple had withdrawn their children from a government primary school after they discovered their son’s new teacher - Stefan Vassallo - was gay. They claimed this fact went against their “personal Christian” values.

The couple had reached out to staff at St Clare College Primary School San Ġwann on Friday to inquire about their son’s new Year 3 teacher. The couple said the new teacher was a man who carried a bag with a rainbow flag on it and told the school that while they respected everyone, they were a “conservative family” and did not like the idea of children mixing with people “who are not straight”.

The school told Times of Malta it was not willing to change the teacher and that the parents were now trying to send the children to another school.

The story quickly went viral, with several voicing shock at the parents' action and expressing solidarity with Vassallo. 

On Thursday, Robert Abela together with Education Minister Clifton Grima and Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg met with Vassallo and the school's headmaster David Caruana.

In a post on Facebook, Abela said teachers, no matter who they were, did a lot of good.

“I was struck by the determination and love Stefan has for his work.

"I enjoyed hearing from him and the headmaster about how the educational community came together [following the incident]," he said.