With six weeks to go on their term, sixth form students who attend private and Church-run schools are pleading with authorities to allow them to return to physical schooling, as active COVID-19 case numbers continue to drop.
Students who spoke to Times of Malta expressed frustration, claiming they have been forgotten and that their education and well-being is being sidelined.
Their reaction was sparked after a letter to health authorities signed by the student councils of three post-secondary institutions, asking for sixth formers to be allowed to finish out the term, was not acted upon. The term ends on June 25.
Sabrina Sacco, 16, who attends St Aloysius College sixth form, said that after fifth formers were denied the opportunity to celebrate their graduation and say goodbye, she was hoping for a more normal first year in sixth form.
“I chose SAC because I wanted to be close to my friends and make new friends,” Sacco said.
“Apart from the educational aspect, sixth form is a time to learn valuable lessons in independence, to go out of your comfort zone and have different experiences. Online learning definitely inhibited those experiences.”
Church-run sixth forms like St Aloysius and De La Salle college were previously operating on a week-in, week-out basis, where first and second year students attended physical lessons on an alternating basis.
“I managed to get through a week of online schooling because I had a week of in-person lessons to look forward to. I would wake up at 6am excited and motivated to go to school,” she said.
“Going entirely online affected me even academically.I noticed the difference in how well I did in my January exams compared to exams I took in April.
“Online lessons enable a sort of laziness you get used to, you wake up 15 minutes before your lesson starts, you don’t really interact with other students. I didn’t even feel the stress and motivation of having exams.”
Sacco said that now that the pandemic situation has improved significantly, students should be allowed to resume their lessons in person and not just exams.
“I think now that second years have left, we should try to make up for the year in these six weeks. Our schools were diligent in mitigation measures, and not a single person in my year resulted positive or even had to quarantine due to exposure on school grounds,” she said.
“Our mental health and academic future should be accounted for as well.”
'Tired of living in the same room'
St Martin’s College student Hannah Ciantar, 16, said she was “tired of living in the same room day after day”.
“Everyday from 8.30am till 5pm, I spend the whole day sitting in the same chair looking at my laptop. I sit down at my desk and I can’t concentrate because my living space and my work space are the same. I study and eat and go to sleep and the whole day keeps repeating in an endless loop.
“Online lessons have not simply taken away our lessons, it has compromised the sixth form experience on the whole because we are missing out on key activities and forming new relationships that are just as important in having a good educational experience.”
I think it’s very unfair that we’ve been left in the dark when foreign language students are free to come and study
As she is currently studying for three A-levels, Ciantar said the school year has not been easy without the hands-on experience.
“I can’t say I feel like I’m learning properly, particularly chemistry and biology which has a strong practical element. Although our school set up a wonderful online system, it is no replacement for physical learning.”
Ciantar also believes that the next six weeks could be a golden opportunity to make up for lost time.
“Sixth form is a total of two years’ experience. One month is a significant amount of time when we’ve been deprived of so much. It could help solidify our revisions and, for those who haven’t managed to form relationships, to get to know their peers a little better.”
Hannah Portelli, 17, who attends De La Salle College, expressed concern that students were not getting the opportunity to adequately prepare themselves to enter university.
“Mentally, the situation has taken a toll on us. At school we conducted a survey to see how students felt about schooling from home and the results were very worrying,” she said.
“Many students are used to the online routine that requires little effort and does not motivate you to excel. In the future, if we get to university, we will be held to higher standards and they won’t go easy on us just because we’re not used to the system,” Portelli continues.
“COVID-19 will be over and we will go back to a normal life without ever having tasted the pressure and no one will make accommodations for us to be comfortable.”
'Discrepancy in treatment of students'
Portelli said she felt there was discrepancy in the way students were being treated, given that in the beginning of June the government would be allowing foreign language students to attend English lessons in person.
“Students should always have the option to go to school, and I think it’s very unfair that we’ve been left in the dark when foreign language students are free to come and study,” she said.
Fr Jimmy Bartolo, who serves as rector at St Aloysius, echoed the sentiment, saying it was a mistake to equate small sixth forms with larger tertiary education institutions.
“I will always leave the final decision up to Professor [Charmaine] Gauci, but I cannot understand how foreign students have the opportunity to be physically present while saying no to our own students,” Bartolo told Times of Malta.
“Speaking for Church sixth forms, we operated on two shifts and it worked like a charm. With strict protocols we had no internal contagion. It worked, and it worked well when cases were much higher. Our students are losing important months in formation and not just intellectually. Their relationships are faltering, and they are fed up of learning online,” he said.
“Ultimately, we will obey any direction we are given but these are questions that I feel need to be asked.”
Questions sent to the Health Ministry were not answered at the time of writing.