State schools losing their individuality

I can very well understand Charles Calleja's concern about the changing of the Lyceum badge, Plea To Retain Liceo Badge (March 16).

He should be more dismayed to learn that this school, like all the other state schools, has also lost its name and, possibly, will lose its distinctive character by absorption into a larger college.

The official name of what Mr Calleja refered to as the Liceo is now Kulleġġ San Ġorġ Preca, Skola Sekondarja, Subien. There are 11 other schools, seven primary and four secondary, whose name is also Kulleġġ San Ġorġ Preca, followed by the type of school and the locality in which they are to found.

Although the idea of networking schools into colleges to reduce the stress of transition from primary to secondary school has its merits, I believe that the decision to discard the names by which schools had come to be known and identified was mistaken. Names like Mikiel Anton Vassalli, Maria Regina, Ninu Cremona, G. F. Agius De Soldanis, Dun Ġużepp Zammit Brigella, Santa Theresa, Verdala, Maria Assumpta, Lily of the Valley, and several others, evoked images of individualistic schools with their distinctive character, ethos and history. All this will now be lost by referring to schools by the name of the college of which they form part. I think we need to be clear about the function of the new colleges. Whatever this is, the running of schools, and the most important functions of teaching and learning, must remain the business of heads of school and teachers. Rather than striving for uniformity, the colleges should encourage diversity in their member schools, so that each may benefit from the best practice of the other schools within the college.