It is time for school curriculum to return to normal as the COVID-19 pandemic is being brought under control, a parents’ association said on Monday. 

The Maltese Association of Parents of State School Students (MAPSSS) said that while it understands the need to maintain health measures like mask-wearing and social distancing, students should return to the full educational curriculum. 

Students, they said, were being limited to core subjects and it is time for the resumption of peripatetic lessons like art, music, physical education and ethics.

Secondary school students should also resume their coursework including laboratory work and vocational education and training subjects, the association said.

School is set to resume on September 29 with no major change in restrictive COVID-19 measures expected. 

MAPSSS said that as part of a holistic learning experience, school outings and fieldwork should also resume this coming scholastic year.

This, the association said, could be done by sticking with the bubble concept.

With over 80 per cent of the island now fully vaccinated, the association said that after two disrupted school years, life ought to start getting back to normal in the scholastic year 2021-2022.

Vulnerable students should receive the necessary support, on a case by case basis, to be safely and fully integrated into on-site schooling, it said.

Students who did not attend school last year should get the assistance required, such as reintegration programmes, to settle in smoothly for their own benefit and that of their peers.

The MAPSSS said its committee had recently held a meeting with education and health authorities discussing the reopening of schools.

MAPSSS commended health authorities for the vaccination roll-out program and the Education Ministry for reopening schools by the end of the month.