Mtarfa primary students and teachers will be moved to a school in Rabat as of the next scholastic year, with no solution in sight to fix the structurally dangerous school building in their hometown.
The students are currently attending a primary school in Msida, having been moved to the Msida hub after experts deemed the Mtarfa building structurally unsafe due to the serious cracks developed in recent years.
They will wrap up this scholastic year there but will start attending the Rabat primary school as of September, parliament heard on Tuesday.
The update was made by Education Minister Clifton Grima in a reply to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Naomi Cachia, who asked for an update on the Mtarfa primary school and its students.
Grima said that while experts had assured that a “tragedy would not occur” at the Mtarfa school, he had taken the decision to approve the relocation to Rabat out of an abundance of caution.
“I thought about what it must be like as a parent, seeing the damage. I know I would want my child to be transferred elsewhere, for their safety,” he said.
He said around 90 students have been transferred to the Msida Hub, and daily transport is provided.
“Next September, the start of the new scholastic year, the educators and students of the Mtarfa school will start the new year at the Rabat primary school,” Grima said.
He said the distance between Rabat and Mtarfa is only 3.1km and that the facilities at the Rabat school are more equipped and modern than those in Mtarfa.
“The facilities (of Mtarfa) were built for military soldiers, not students. The Mtarfa school is very different compared to the modern schools which are being built for our children. They will benefit from this move."
The building which is currently used as a primary school in Mtarfa, attended by kindergarten to Year 6 students, was built in 1893 to serve as the Officers' Mess by the British.
Over the past months, parts of the façade were propped up by concrete blocks. The building is a Grade 1 listed structure.