Despite an increasingly multicultural student composition in Malta, a study by social worker Omar Rababah found that parents and educators still resist a more equitable approach to religious education.
Omar Rababah always felt like the odd one out when, as a primary school student, he was asked to wait in the school library while his classmates attended Mass.
“During Catholic religion lessons, I would sit in class, doing homework or reading something that is not linked to religion. My beliefs were never recognised or acknowledged, and I thought there was something wrong with me being a Muslim.”
When he moved on to secondary school and opted to learn Arabic, the school provided a teacher just for him as he was the only student to learn the language.
“In a way this confirmed my belief that I was less deserving as a Muslim because it showed they could make arrangements for the minority. But I also finally felt that the school cared about my needs and aspirations.”
Unfortunately, when 15 years later he researched the experience of Muslim students at primary state schools as part of his Bachelor of Arts in Social Work, he learnt that nothing had changed.
“Research shows that when students do not benefit from a sense of belonging, they risk psychological trauma, so I set about exploring teachers’ and parents’ perspective on religious entitlement, hoping to come up with a series of recommendations that would ensure no one falls through the gaps in the system.”
For his Masters in Access to Education dissertation, Rababah carried out interviews at a primary school considered to be one of the most diverse in Malta.
While he acknowledges that the interviews cannot be representative of all primary schools, in his study Rababah also drew on his experience as a social worker whose job is to specifically support multicultural students at different schools in Malta.
His study shows that educators find it difficult to accept that students of different faiths have equal religious educational entitlement.
“Some Maltese educators and parents also seem to have this idea that if you help out a non-Maltese or non-Catholic student, whether with school material or extra teaching hours, you are doing so at the detriment of other students who do not have such needs at all.”
Educators need to be trained in recognising privilege and disadvantage, irrespective of the students’ background, and work towards a more equitable school environment.
“Such training should also focus specifically on aspects of religious diversity, while addressing the educators’ fears.
“One middle school I’ve been to, which offers several language options, displayed large notice boards with information about the languages. The Arabic billboard was all about Christian Arabs, and there was no word on Islam, when 85 per cent of Arabs follow the teachings of Islam.”
What some educators said
“I see it as a disadvantage when, at times, how do you say it… you do a lot for them, for these people coming from different cultures, and you may end up forgetting those who are Maltese.”
“When I have Mass on the day of Our Lady of Sorrows, I go to the local parish church. I inform them (non-Catholic parents) in advance not to bring their children early, but to bring them later to school. I won’t let them in during Mass.”
“It is in the Constitution that we are Catholic… then again, as you know, we are Maltese. I don’t think it is right that I must sideline my religion just to please others.”
Tips for a more equitable school environment
• Do not remove the cross from classrooms. Instead, set up a station in class with different religious symbols so that all students can participate and feel it is their classroom too.
• Do not always count oranges and apples in Maths class… how about baguettes and mangoes?
• While still teaching students about the Great Siege, stop demonising Turks and include empowering accounts of non-Maltese heroes.
• Organise after-school hours homework groups so that parents can meet each other informally and assist fellow parents who do not understand their children’s homework.