St Albert the Great College rector, Fr Aaron Zahra has pledged stability in the running of the school as he expects vacancies for secondary school teachers to be filled in the coming weeks.
His comments come after a quarter of teachers and staff members resigned from the school in the wake of the sacking of longtime headmaster Mario Mallia.
“Difficulties in the secondary school were experienced due to last-minute resignations,” Zahra told Times of Malta.
“It is understandable that in any institution that undergoes a change in management employees might desire not to work under different leadership.”
He said the majority of resignations were in the secondary school and that the situation at the primary school and kindergarten was “very stable” with both were “fully operating”.
The school has already had to open for the new scholastic year two days late after experiencing delays in its preparations.
Zahra said that multiple interviews were taking place to fill the vacant posts.
“The secondary school has a new head of school and will have a new assistant head on Monday, with more posts to be filled in the coming weeks,” he said.
“This is expected to bring more stability to the running of the school.”
In a reply to questions, a spokesperson from the education ministry said it was following the situation closely through the department for quality and standards in education, which is “continuously evaluating” the situation.
“The ministry has met with the stakeholders involved in order to ensure a way forward which does not affect or disturb the students’ education.”
In an open letter, parents on Monday pleaded for the education minister and other authorities to intervene to implement a contingency plan for students and staff.
The contingency plan was drawn up by the archbishop’s curia to cater for students and staff of St Albert within its education structures if the college is unable to function.
The Church has no direct say in the school’s administration as the college is run by the Dominican Fathers.
In the letter, the parents said students had missed a considerable number of hours of tuition and the missing lessons would only increase in the coming weeks. This would have irreversible repercussions, especially on those students who would soon sit for their SEC exams.
They feared the situation would ‘collapse’ in view of the shortage of staff and a lack of serious planning by the college leadership.
Also on Monday, the Malta Union of Teachers said a court had rejected a request by the college rector to ban further industrial action at the college.
The court had confirmed the union’s right to protect its members through industrial action, the MUT said.
Mallia was fired from his post last July, a dismissal which he says came about due to his support of two inclusivity programmes that had been running at the Valletta Church school.
The school says the dismissal was spurred by his refusal to abide by the statute regulating the college and his insistence on making decisions without seeking approval from the college’s board.