Updated 9pm with UPE's reaction

The Education Ministry has filed an application in court for a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the Malta Union of Teachers to stop industrial action by educators.

The union had registered an industrial dispute over the way some 150 peripatetic (support) teachers were deployed to primary school classes on the eve of the start of the school year.

“We are going to respect the decision of the court, but rest assured that we will respond and we will fight this issue as we have done on other occasions,” MUT president Marco Bonnici said at a press conference on Monday morning.

These, he said, were oppressive tactics. 

“How can we expect educators to give the best to our children when they are unprepared for the job they are being asked to do? It is unjust for teachers and it is unjust for their students.” 

Marco Bonnici addressing the press conference.

Bonnici said that the “messy” deployment of teachers on the eve of the school year was unprecedented and that the “mask had fallen” from the ministry which had claimed to have a plan to address an acute shortage of teachers in primary schools.

“Till the very last minute, the ministry was not supplying correct information and it played down the extent of the shortage of primary school teachers,” Bonnici said.

Teachers redeployed at the last minute

“Then they called up teachers on Saturday morning and asked them to get ready to teach a class on Monday. These are educators who work with students who struggle with things like hearing impairments and dyslexia, whose presence is vital to the learning experience of these children. They are essential, but in a state of panic the ministry removed them from their positions in order to fill in vacancies.”

He added that it was now clear that while the ministry had issued protocols for the reopening of schools, it did not have a tangible plan on how it could implement those protocols.

“The MUT will not be intimidated by these oppressive tactics and will continue safeguarding the right of educators, in court and everywhere else,”  he insisted.

Minister: Support services will not be affected by teacher redeployment  

Education Minister Justyne Caruana in a reaction, said the redeployment of a number of peripatetic teachers to teach primary school classes will have no impact on the service offered to children.

Speaking at a press conference,  Caruana said that there was no shortage of primary school teachers, but that the conditions laid out in the protocols approved by the health authorities due to COVID-19, coupled with an increase in students due to begin schooling this year, meant that more classes were needed, each with its own teacher. 

“Compared to last year, the number of additional classes we need have increased by 45.

"Twenty-three of these are due to the protocols introduced in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, and another 22 due to an increase in the number of children registered to attend primary school,” Caruana said. 

“This is not a case of being unprepared. We have had an open call for teachers  since April 14. Still, the number of recruits was not enough and we decided to turn on the cohort of 500 peripatetic teachers, who last year were also called upon to fill additional classes.”

She added that all the newly-deployed support teachers are qualified to teach in primary schools but in the past they had branched out to different sectors. Some 22 peripatetic teachers had volunteered to teach a class this scholastic year, while a further 81 were called upon by the ministry.

Authorities using same model agreed with the union last year

“This way of doing things was successful last year, so we went back to the same model, on which we had an agreement upon,” she said.  

“We are committed to make sure that on Wednesday we have all the teachers we need in place to teach our children. We are committed to achieving this by any means necessary, and yes, even through legal (court) means,” she continued. 

“We are committed to making sure there are no obstacles in the way to our children returning physically to school.”

Permanent Secretary for Education Frank Fabri claimed that the ministry had not left it till the eleventh hour to deploy peripatetic teachers to primary classes, but that the MUT had dragged its feet on calling its members to a meeting.  

Fabri expressed disappointment that the MUT had waited until September 22 to meet its members only to come back and say they had not reached an agreement on peripatetic teachers. 

“We opened these discussions on August 24. We asked the MUT to have their meeting earlier because it was too close to the start of the school year,” he said. 

“I cannot understand how an agreement that was in place last year and that worked successfully is suddenly in dispute.”

“We had no choice but to resort to court because the teachers are there, there isn’t a shortage and we have to deploy them according to our needs. At the same time, the cohort is large enough that all the peripatetic services will keep going,” he insisted. 

Solution must be found in children's best interest – PN 

Later on Monday, the PN called for a solution that respects both the students' interests and upheld educators' dignity.

Education spokesperson Clyde Puli said the government resorting to filing an injunction to stop the union’s directives was “aggravating” the situation.

“Unfortunately, we were right when we warned a month ago that we were already late in making preparations for the scholastic year,” Puli said.

“It is clear there were no plans that looked beyond the immediate and an obvious lack of communication and dialogue with industry professionals from the Ministry of Education.

“Educators have been left anxious and angry and this outcome was in nobody’s interest. A solution must be found that is in the best interest of our children, but this can only be achieved with dialogue, not by silencing teachers and hiding information,” he continued.

“The Nationalist Party stands behind educators and is committed to giving them the support and resources that they need. The best way to ensure a success story for our students is to ensure it’s built on a foundation of successful and enthusiastic teachers.”

Warrant aims to stop union's operations - UPE

Late on Monday, the Union of Professional Educators said it had also received a warrant of prohibitory injunction.

"The warrant aims to stop the union's operations in giving directives to its members.

"The Permanent Secretary, acting on behalf of the government, is attempting to interfere with the union's efforts to safeguard educators' interests and rights at their place of work after the ministry’s latest deployment fiasco," the UPE said in a statement. 

The union added that it had filed a legal reply, and an urgent court sitting was scheduled for  Tuesday.