Students can smile freely for the first time since October 2020, with face masks no longer mandatory in schools under relaxed guidelines published by the health authorities last week.

As classrooms reopened on Monday following the Easter break, most state schools are allowing students and staff the freedom to decide for themselves if they want to keep their mask on.

But other schools were taking a more cautious approach, opting to retain face coverings for now.

At the St Paul’s Bay government primary school, younger students were more than happy to remove their mask while others did not seem to mind keeping it on a while longer.

Parents were told their children could decide for themselves whether to keep their mask on or not.

Some teaching staff opted to wear it during their first day back in class.

One mother said she was not aware that masks in schools were no longer mandatory and her son had kept his mask on all day, as did his friends.

When contacted, St Edward’s College said that it was keeping tabs on the situation and had opted to retain masks indoors for now. This was deemed to be in the best interests of students and staff.

Students are allowed to remove their masks when outdoors as the school said it was reviewing the situation as necessary.

Earlier this month, St Edward’s, a private school, took a stand at what it described as the inconsistent manner in which COVID measures were being observed outside the school during the election campaign.

It affixed banners to its gates with messages such as: “We’re not safe until you are all safe.”

Mario Mallia, head of St Albert College, a Church school, said the management had decided to stick to mask wearing inside to safeguard the health of students and school staff as well as to ensure the continuity of the teaching-learning process.

The school management considered the current infection numbers before it made this decision, he added.

Most Church schools, in fact, have notified parents that masks will remain mandatory for the time being.

However, Mallia did not exclude a revision of this policy before the end of the scholastic year should the situation change.

Two years of pandemic restrictions

Masks have been mandatory in Maltese schools since the beginning of the scholastic year in 2020.

Other measures put in place from time to time have included the creation of ‘bubbles’ of students to avoid unnecessary mixing and the maintenance of at least 1.5 metres distance between the children.

The guidelines issued last week state that students from Year 8 downwards, where vaccination uptake is still low, should try to stick to the 1.5m distance.

The optimal distance for students from Year 9 upwards is considered to be 1m.

The authorities said that schools should always keep in mind the importance of ample ventilation and suggested keeping masks on in more crowded settings.