Investing millions in schools was useless if the shortage of teachers persisted, Education Minister Owen Bonnici said on Wednesday.

“It’s useless having the most beautiful schools, investing millions and gilding them if you do not have educators in them,” Dr Bonnici told Times of Malta.

Dr Bonnici added that he wanted to listen to what teachers have to say about the shortage issue. 

In recent years, with Evarist Bartolo at helm of the Education Ministry, the Labour government had pledged it would build new schools in various areas, including in St Paul’s Bay, where a much-needed facility should have been up and running by 2017 but has yet to be opened.  

The government had also boasted of building new workshops for students enrolling for applied subjects. This had irked the teachers’ union which believed that investment in certain subjects was greater than in others and while new laboratories were built for some, teachers struggled to obtain certain resources for other subjects.

The union has often called out the government’s "misplaced" attention, saying the government was failing to adequately tackle teachers’ shortage. 

While noting the good work done by his predecessors, Dr Bonnici said he was "under the impression" that teachers had a lot to say and wanted to voice their concerns. 

“I will be here to listen to the teachers and Learning Support Educators (LSEs). I have already received a lot of messages in recent days,” the minister said. 

In October, the Education Ministry together with the Malta Union of Teachers launched a study into the state of the teaching profession with the aim of reversing a teacher shortage in several subjects. Recommendations are set to be unveiled in April.  

In his new role as Education Minister, Dr Bonnici wanted to address four issues: improving the quality of the school experience, tackling gaps in the education system to ensure that nobody was left out, improving post-secondary education as well as making sure that people continued to learn after they left school.