English language foreign students have increased dramatically over recent years and yet there has not been any planning to reduce their negative impact.

English language schools admittedly generate considerable income in Malta but the behaviour of some of their students highly annoys and disturbs whole neighbourhoods, particularly those residents who live near the schools. It is important that regulations be put in place to control such nuisance.

Most students reside in the Sliema and St Julian’s areas. Many of them are quite young and most of them behave well. But a minority acts irresponsibly, mostly by littering the pavements and by singing aloud and yelling in otherwise quiet residential areas. Given that thousands of students visit Malta to learn English, the irresponsible minority can add up to hundreds at any one time.

At the Tigné area, for example, one often finds all sorts of litter on the pavements left by students, litter that generally originates from the fast food shops in the vicinity and includes partly eaten potato chips and ice-creams as well as empty hamburger cartons and plastic bottles. I have not heard of a single instance when a foreign student was booked for throwing rubbish on the pavements. And, so far as I know, no school has been held responsible for the bad social behaviour of its students.

It should be made mandatory that such schools be located away from densely populated areas. Also, the government or the local council should engage wardens or station policemen in areas where foreign students congregate so as to book offenders on the spot.

In addition, some measures should be devised to hold the schools at least partly responsible for the behaviour of their students. This should motivate the schools to demand good social behaviour from their students.