A shortcoming that must be tackled urgently

Does it make sense to keep schoolchildren waiting outside a school for any length of time, unsupervised, until the school gates open? It does not and yet this is precisely what regularly happened at Mġarr, and at other places as well, giving rise to serious doubts as to whether all those responsible for the care and custody of children in such localities are fully understanding the implications of what may well be regarded as a very serious shortcoming in the organisation of the government school system.

It is no wonder that the Ombudsman has come down so heavily on the education authorities, holding, quite rightly, that the practice of leaving schoolchildren waiting outside schools is unacceptable. It is almost unbelievable in this day and age to come across such a blatant disregard to the children’s safety by the very same authorities that ought to take the greatest care of children and, to boot, that are charged with their education. How can anyone seriously justify what appears to be the nonchalant manner in which the case has been tackled? This may not be a matter that calls for resignations but it speaks volumes of how the authorities view their responsibility in the overall care of the children under their care.

According to the Ombudsman, Education Ministry officials had backed a decision taken by the head of school at Mġarr’s primary school not to open the gates before 8.30 a.m. Is it all that difficult for the school and the education authorities to realise that, as the Ombudsman remarked, such action “is beckoning for a tragedy to happen at any moment”?

The most frustrating bit of the story, as recounted by the Ombudsman in a report on the case, is that for almost an entire scholastic year different authorities argued among each other on who was to assume responsibility for the situation.

The Ombudsman took up the case following complaints made by parents from Manikata last February. Some children were dropped off outside the school as early as 7.55 a.m., leaving far too much time for them to be kept there unattended.

Apparently, the education authorities were marking time as they were expecting the transport authority to approve a proposal for the closure to traffic of the road in front of the school until the opening of the main gate. But this was not approved and the matter stopped there.

Meanwhile, said the Ombudsman, the children were left outside the gate for almost all the scholastic year despite an offer by the parents to supervise them in the school grounds themselves during this time. Why was this not allowed? And if, for one reason or another, the authorities are against having parents doing the supervision, would it not make sense to recruit auxiliary staff for such work, as a reader remarked so well in her response to the item about the Ombudsman’s report carried in this newspaper’s website? This will be one additional expense that is well justified. Spending cuts can very well be made in so many other services, such as, for instance, in the use of government cars.

A solution to the problem ought to be found before the opening of the new scholastic year because it simply does not make sense to leave schoolchildren waiting outside schools before the start of their lessons.

A full explanation by the education authorities will be well in order too.