State primary and secondary schools reopened their doors for students on Wednesday morning, shrugging off fears of COVID-19 but facing uncertainty over teacher deployments.
Road traffic congestion, which had been building up over the past few days with the reopening of church and private schools, reached a peak on Wednesday, with red mini-buses darting around cars which on several roads could only be driven at a snail's pace.
Transport Malta and LESA officials were on hand on several junctions to unplug bottlenecks.
COVID-19 fears have been mostly eased in secondary schools, with a high proportion of students aged over 12 now vaccinated.
Rigorous virus protocols continue to apply for primary schools, with the number of pupils reduced in classes and the children kept in 'bubbles' as far as possible to avoid mixing. That has led, as it did last year, to a requirement for a higher number of teachers to man classes.
The authorities have ordered peripatetic and support teachers to fill the gaps, with some teachers usually focused on teaching subjects such as drama or PE ordered, just days before the school year opening, to report to ordinary classes.
Trade unions have protested about the lack of preparedness, also arguing that an agreement on teacher deployments last year was meant for that year only. They have threatened industrial action, and on Tuesday members were told to ignore deployment calls by the Education directorate. The Ministry of Education has sought a warrant of prohibitory injunction to stop industrial action. A court still has to hear the case.
Photos by Matthew Mirabelli.Unusually, church and private schools opened before state schools this year.
The church groups 17,000 students and 3,000 teachers in 55 schools. In a statement, the Curia said church schools look forward to a gradual return to "a new normality," adding that the pandemic had underlined the importance of digital teaching tools which will continue to be adopted in schools. But the pandemic also underlined the importance of the in-person educational experience in classrooms, it said.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna said education is central to the social life of a democracy. He augured that education would not only broaden the minds, but also open the hearts of everyone to the needs of society.
The archbishop appealed for cooperation by the health authorities over virus restrictions so that students can be given the best educational experience in school.
The process of school reopening continues in the coming days with the reopening of kinder classes in state schools.
Teachers transferred hours before schools open
In a statement the Nationalist Party expressed best wishes to students and teachers.
It said that while it recognised the problems caused by COVID-19, it was calling on the Education Ministry to show a greater sense of leadership based on dialogue rather than trying to intimidate the trade unions through court action.
The party said it was concerned about the way how teachers were transferred, on the phone, just 12 hours before the opening of the school year. They were required to report to different schools to teach subjects they had not taught before, at a level which they still did not know. This was symptomatic of a panic and disturbed the serenity needed in schools and among teachers.
The fact that teachers were called in the evening, with some calls even being made to their partners, also reflected a breach of privacy.
No time to prepare
The Union of Professional Educators asked how teachers could be expected to lead a class with no preparation whatsoever, having been deployed at the last minute.
"This deployment exercise can only be seen as a large-scale babysitting operation to fill in the gaping holes that the Ministry (of Education) should have prevented if it had had the foresight to plan for such contingencies," it said.
The union said many teachers are considering handing in their resignation.
"If resignation numbers continue to rise, Malta will have an educational melt-down imminently," it warned.