The teachers’ union has warned against changes to the school protocols in place to control the spread of COVID-19, saying educators did not want to experience an increase in positive cases.

Times of Malta reported on Monday that the health authorities were unlikely to issue any updates to the school protocols, meaning educators and students will once again have to abide by the rules that were in place throughout the last scholastic year. This includes mandatory mask-wearing as well as rigid social distancing measures.

But Times of Malta is now informed that earlier in the summer, the education authorities asked Church and independent schools to provide data on classroom capacity based on the distance between desks. The authorities sought information on the number of students that can fit if the distance between desks is reduced to 1m instead of last year’s 1.5m.

“We were informed by non-state schools at the time and upon enquiring, the ministry justified the request claiming that they need to have a national picture with all possibilities. No other information on the matter has reached us since then,” MUT head Marco Bonnici told Times of Malta.

Some schools, smaller Church schools in particular, faced issues with space as a result of the rules in place throughout the last scholastic year, forcing them to introduce alternative schooling arrangements. In some of these schools, students were put on a roster that saw them having online lessons on some days and in-person lessons on others.

This proved to be a struggle for some parents who had to make arrangements to be at home with their children when it was their turn to have online lessons.

Sources said the health authorities were keen on ensuring the same rules that applied last year apply in the upcoming scholastic year.

However, there have been some who continue to push for the reduction in the distance between desks that would enable schools to fit more children in their classes, according to the sources.

One source said the health authorities were resisting this change since, despite the older students being vaccinated, the younger ones were not, and it was still risky to have them crammed together, especially while the virus is still being transmitted in the community.

The MUT seems to agree with the authorities on this, with Bonnici telling Times of Malta: “All rigid measures through health protocols adopted by schools in the past scholastic year helped to control the pandemic and any changes must take all this into consideration.

“MUT made its position clear to both the ministry and health authorities back in June: We do not want to experience an increase in the number of positive cases in schools caused by changes in protocols.”