Teachers' unions have taken different views on whether schooling should shift online, with the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) saying it is monitoring the situation on the basis of medical advice, and the Union of Professional Educators (UPE) saying the shift should take place immediately owing to the surge in the number of virus cases.
In a message on YouTube, the executive head of the UPE, Graham Sansone, said that the teachers' union is alarmed by the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. He said that he is especially concerned about the new UK variant, which is causing more infections among children.
“We need to go online, we are fed up with saying it time and time again. I am shocked by the number of COVID-19 cases and the number of educators catching the virus.”
Educators and school staff are currently being vaccinated, along with other non-medical frontliners such as police officers, AFM and CPD staff. People aged over 60, including those aged 71 to 74 will start receiving the vaccine this week.
Sansone said that he was not sure whether the health authorities knew what was happening in schools, describing the situation as a ‘disaster’.
“We now have a regulation in the country where in one household there can be four different bubbles only, but the educator can have around 20 to 100 different bubbles in one class. In a kindergarten class you have around 20 different students from different bubbles.”
He noted that the health authorities had now banned those under the age of 16 from playing contact sports.
“But children still go out during their school break time and play together, so let us be realistic, if we are stopping contact sports, let us stop the break time,” said Sansone.
He also made reference to public sector workers being asked to work from home. “Once again, the educators have to go to work in schoools because they do not have this opportunity to work from home, but we know that at different times we had educators continue providing their service online."
He said that the union does want students to miss school, but as cases increase, the online system is the best way to reduce the numbers and protect pupils and educators.
‘We are constantly in discussion with health authorities’ - MUT
In a separate statement, the president of Malta Union of Teachers, Marco Bonnici, said that the teachers' union is constantly monitoring the situation and every decision is taken with health experts.
“If we see that protocols or measures need to be increased or change, we will bring it up with the authorities. So far, we are here to listen, discuss and monitor the situation.”
When asked whether schools need to go online, he said that currently health experts were not advising a complete shift online, but the situation is fluid and is changing constantly.
“Our decisions have been taken after discussions with health authorities, not on the spur of the moment,” he said.
Bonnici said that members have mixed feelings about the current situation.
“Of course, we have members who have been calling for schooling to shift online, we have others who whilst not being happy with the situation, want to continue working in classrooms and there are others who need constant reassurance of what is happening.”
The Independent Schools Association said that all ISA schools are monitoring the situation as it unfolds and are taking decisions needed per school.