I react quickly to reading online about the protest bythe MUT in relation to the call for applications for a deputy head teacher at a Church school in Gżira, which the union deemed “a clear breach of agreement, discriminatory and arguably illegal”.

I do not know what agreement was entered into but I will comment on the phrase “discriminatory and illegal”.

It was also reported online: “He expressed concern that Catholics who had to seek a separation or were homosexual could not be considered for these top posts.”

What does the MUT expect, for the Church to hire a non-practising Catholic as head of a Catholic Church school?

Does it expect to appoint an atheist or a Buddhist or a Muslim to head a Catholic school?

I would have expected the MUT to act principally in the interests of the children, who should come first and foremost. That is exactly why parents elect in the first place to send their children to a Church school for them to receive a Catholic education.

I am also shocked at the purported statement supposedly made by the MUT that separated people are not living by the Catholic faith.

I know very many people who were unfortunate in their marriage and have separated but follow fervently the Catholic faith.

I think the MUT shot itself in the foot.

One should never forget that the main objective of a person becoming a teacher is for that person to be a dedicated teacher of children.

Therefore, the MUT should always keep the interests of children at heart while, obviously, defending and protecting the working conditions of a teacher. Thus, to me, this protest shows that the MUT has completely lost focus on the mission of what a teacher is all about.

How glad I am to have been educated in a different era and how sorry I am to see that my grandchildren have to face such realities today.

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