Seminary school headmaster defends extension decision

The extension to the Archbishop’s Seminary in Tal-Virtù, Rabat will not cause huge traffic jams and congestion in the residential roads around the school, according to headmaster Fr David Cilia.

“With 450 new students who will start over the next three years, there will be a maximum of 32 mini-vans. From my experience, very few parents have the time to drop off and pick up their children from school,” Fr Cilia said. “I’m not going to deny an education to hundreds of students because of 32 mini-vans,” he insisted.

Fr Cilia strongly defended the development, which has drawn heavy criticism from Rabat residents, especially those who live in Tal-Virtù and who recently presented a 225-strong petition to the Archbishop calling on him to halt the development.

“We are actively looking at their concerns but my moral choice is to meet their needs and those of the hundreds of families whose children need an education,” Fr Cilia said.

“I’m sorry it concerned the residents. I fully understand their worries,” he added.

In their petition, the residents said an “excessive” volume of traffic would flow to Rabat and they called on Archbishop Paul Cremona, as head of the Maltese Church, to “examine” the situation arguing the school was being extended under a permit that failed to conform with the authority’s rules and policies.

But Fr Cilia pointed out the traffic jams were an “unfounded fear”, especially because primary and secondary school would start at different times.

“Out of the 260 or so students I have, about 18 are dropped off by their parents,” Fr Cilia said.

The residents, who already filed a judicial protest over the issue, also referred to comments made by planning authority auditor Joe Falzon who, in a report, slammed the process that led to the permit, describing the case officer’s assessment as “sheer incompetence or abuse”.

Although he refused to comment about specific elements of Mr Falzon’s report, Fr Cilia said he disagreed with all his conclusions.

He criticised the auditor for commenting to The Times in November when the case was still under the investigation by his office. “It is an injustice.”

Fr Cilia insisted the extension was crucial to give schoolchildren from the age of five to 16 years continuity without the pressure of exams.

“I don’t like it that we (the Church) are portrayed as trying to harm the environment because of this project or as though we did something unfair as I really worked hard for this project and we met all the requirements,” he said.

The development was also a huge financial commitment the Church would be paying off in the years to come. It forms part of the education reform under which five Church schools, including the Seminary, are included in a €20 million investment programme.

Fr Cilia said he was under huge pressure to have the new building up and running by September when it would start taking in new students. “I didn’t want to get into this controversy,” he said.

The Seminary had hosted large numbers of students in previous years – up to 800 at a time – and never had any problems with the residents, Fr Cilia explained.

He said the site notice was up for all to see during the June hamlet elections, which were held at the Seminary, where more than half the Tal-Virtù residents voted.

He insisted the application was not “rushed through”, as the residents claimed, but was approved after the Church went through all the usual channels. Also, the footprint of the building would not increase radically.