Students plan street protest

The results of final-year undergraduate students will be released as a sign of goodwill but hundreds of others remain without their marks and several are planning to take to the streets on July 12.

A number of students felt they should protest if the talks the University Students' Council (KSU) was having with the relevant stakeholders did not lead to the release of their exam results. They are planning to march through Republic Street, Valletta, even though such protest has not been endorsed by the KSU.

Their ordeal began three weeks ago after the Malta Academic Staff Association (UMASA) and the Malta Union of Teachers decided to strike by withholding the exam results of Junior College and university students until their demands for a new remuneration package were met.

Things budged slightly when the unions declared they would lift the directive for final-year undergraduate students before a conciliation meeting yesterday between the University and the government, as a sign of goodwill, irrespective of the meeting's outcome.

Despite this move, the unions said the University continued to withhold its proposals for remuneration and the meeting yielded no positive results. The unions advised the academic staff to be "on the alert for further advice and/or instructions".

As official talks reached a deadlock, students embarked on an online debate, pushing for a protest.

A Facebook group, called Stop This Nonsense, was formed by students urging both the UMASA and the MUT to end the strike. The group has already reached over 1,400 members and has been very active in recent days as students' frustrations rise.

Some students expressed disapproval at the approach adopted by the KSU, which they felt had done nothing but issue press releases. Despite its optimism and constant appeals for students to remain calm, some speculated that the agreement might not even be reached by September.

Although many students sympathise with the lecturers' cause, there was a general feeling of concern that if the results were not released in time they would miss out on possible employment and academic opportunities.

Many also feared that if their results were published too late there would not be enough time to study for possible re-sits because these cannot be shifted.

The KSU disassociated itself completely from the protest, saying important developments were expected in the coming week.

KSU president Roberta Avellino told The Times that her council welcomed the move by the UMASA and the MUT to publish the final-year students' results. The KSU, she added, will continue fighting for all the students to have their results published.

The KSU maintained that the two unions should have consulted students before embarking on industrial action and should not have used students as a bargaining tool.

Pulse, another student organisation, criticised the ongoing strike and urged the KSU to take a clear stand and be more proactive, "rather than just simply publishing press releases".

Pulse president Tyson Fenech said when contacted that the move to partially lift the directive was a step forward but he insisted that more had to be done. He disapproved of the KSU's constant demands to "not make a fuss on the media" for fear of disrupting negotiations.

He said students should present a united front and accused the KSU of keeping students in the dark. Pulse did not exclude the possibility of joining the protest on July 12. Mr Fenech urged all student organisations to unite on this matter.