Updated 11.03am with MUT statement below.

Parents of students attending St Albert the Great College have asked the minister of education and other authorities to intervene to implement a contingency plan for students and staff, drawn up by the archbishop.

The college has been in crisis since headmaster Mario Mallia was sacked, and up to a quarter of the staff resigned in protest. 

St Albert college is run by the Dominican Fathers and the Church has no direct say in its administration. The Curia, however, announced on September 22, that it had drawn up a 'contingency plan' to cater for students and staff of St Albert college within its educational structures if the college is unable to function. 

In an open letter on Monday, the parents said they were deeply concerned about the crisis that the school has been facing, and the negative repercussions affecting their children.

They said that just after a few days since the start of this scholastic year, the situation has deteriorated sharply, despite assurances given by the college’s administration.

The students had already missed a considerable number of hours of tuition and it looked like the number of missed lessons would increase in the coming weeks, with irreversible repercussions, especially on those students who would soon sit for their SEC exams.

The parents said they were also worried because the students who most need support in their learning process were the most disadvantaged by this situation.

"We do not have a clear and transparent picture of the most important events happening in the college because of a lack of communication from the management of the school," the parents wrote.

They said they feared that the situation would 'collapse', in view of a shortage of staff and a lack of serious planning by the college leadership.

They, therefore, called on the education minister and the competent authorities to step in to ensure that a contingency plan announced by the archbishop  could come into effect.

Mallia was fired from his post last July, a dismissal which he says came about due to his support of two inclusivity programmes that had been running at the Valletta church school. 

The school denies that Mallia was sacked due to his inclusivity policies and maintains that his dismissal was spurned by his refusal to abide by the statute regulating the college and his insistence on making decisions without seeking approval from the college’s board.

Request for warrant of prohibitory injunction rejected

Meanwhile, the Malta Union of Teachers said on Monday that a court had rejected a request by the college rector for it to issue a warrant to ban further industrial action at the college. 

It said the court had confirmed the union's right to protect its members through industrial actions.

"The arm-twisting attempt by the St Albert the Great rector failed and the union shall continue to make the necessary pressure so that the college does not continue to be run with sheer incompetence.," the MUT said.

It reiterated that the rector and college board should resign or be removed from office.