Strong reaction to MTA's decision to fine teacher

There was a strong reaction yesterday to The Times' story about the lecturer who was fined Lm500 by the Malta Tourism Authority for providing students with information about the Godess of Fertility statue while on a school outing in Valletta. Many people expressed disapproval of the authority's action.

Meanwhile, the authority yesterday clarified that the students in question were foreign. The MTA's enforcement director Frank Farrugia said the enforcement directorate "would not be chasing after schoolchildren".

Mr Farrugia said the law was there to protect the livelihood of the tourist guides and not to prevent schoolchildren from learning.

However, when contacted on this matter, Malta Union of Teachers president John Bencini contradicted Mr Farrugia, and said the law did not discriminate between foreign or Maltese students.

"We asked the authority point blank whether the law would affect Maltese schools and Maltese teachers doing the same thing and the answer was in the affirmative," he said.

Mr Bencini also pointed out that in the letter that the enforcement directorate had sent, it had never been specified that the students were foreign.

"The law does not make any distinction and it does effect Maltese students. The MUT feels that the law should be changed," he said.

This is the first time that a teacher was fined Lm500 by the enforcement directorate for breaking the law which states that only licensed tourist guides are permitted to lead "organised excursions".

Under the Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act, an organised excursion is defined as "any organised excursion or tour for five or more tourists or other persons to one or more places in or around Malta, but excludes any service intended solely to provide transport".

The teacher in question is Mr Frank Boffa, the former principal of the Junior College and now a senior lecturer and coordinator of the Student Exchange Programme of the Junior College.

"Taking students on outings is part of my job as coordinator. Neither I nor the college pocket any money for what we do," Mr Boffa said.

Recounting exactly what happened, Mr Boffa said that on July 8 he was walking through City Gate in Valletta with about 20 foreign students.

"Just outside the tourist information office at City Gate there is a statue of the Goddess of Fertility and the students started laughing when they saw it, so I started explaining its history," he said.

"It was very humiliating and insulting to be stopped from what I was doing in front of the students. The law surely has to be amended so as not to negatively hit educational institutions.

"I doubt whether the legislator wanted to get at people like me. Discretion certainly was not used in my case," he said.

Mr Boffa is now facing court proceedings after the enforcement directorate said that the time limit for registering the appeal with the Tourism Appeals Board had lapsed.

In the light of the Lm500 fine imposed on Mr Boffa, the MUT has instructed school heads not to organise any educational school outings until the issue is resolved and the Education Division takes the necessary steps to protect teachers from such action.

"After the article appeared in The Times yesterday we were inundated by calls from worried teachers who had already planned a full programme of outings for their students for this scholastic year," Mr Bencini said.

"No government will come forward to pay the fine and we do not want our teachers to be fined," he added.

Meanwhile, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association yesterday expressed its concern at the fact that a lecturer was fined Lm500 by the Malta Tourism Authority's enforcement directorate for providing students with information.

Reacting to the article that appeared in The Times, the MHRA said in a statement that the law should be amended accordingly or deemed not to be applicable in such cases.

While the MHRA appreciated that the law existed, each case had to be taken on its merits and the law should not be applied rigidly, especially vis-à-vis bona fide teachers educating students.

The MHRA pointed out that the enforcement directorate should have a priority list for its enforcement, and that bringing in line the many unlicensed establishments operating freely on the market should be one such priority.

"Secondly it needs to ensure that the correct standards are adhered to and focus on assurance that the standards in such areas are maintained at all times," the statement said.

"The MHRA feels that this is the real job that the enforcement directorate should concentrate on, rather than taking action against the teacher who is doing his job," it said.