Students who missed years of school but returned following stricter measures to curb absenteeism are being grouped with children their age, despite not being at the same academic level.

The Malta Union of Teachers told this newspaper that while the measures by the government to bring back students worked, some of the children had missed too many lessons and were not up to the level of their peers.

Despite this, they were still being placed in classes with students of their age group, as though they had been regularly following the curriculum.

“In schools, it is very evident that there is a culture of ‘going to school to avoid fines’, and this is a recipe for failure.

“The government failed to provide the necessary legal framework to tackle these situations but instead expected mainstream schools to perform a miracle,” a spokesman for the teachers’ union told the Times of Malta.

There is a culture of ‘going to school to avoid fines’ – a recipe for failure

Heads of some schools are also having to face a problem where students do their utmost to get expelled or suspended, because they still refuse to be anywhere near mainstream classes. “Heads are powerless to do anything about it, except to comply when something extreme occurs, further reinforcing the culture,” the spokesman added.

Some parents were taking their children to school to avoid having to pay the fines, even if they believed that this may not be a necessity, resulting in them not cooperating with the schools, the spokesman added.

Parents of children who miss school are slapped with a fine of as much as €2.33 for each day the child is absent without a valid reason. Failing to pay is considered a criminal offence under the Education Act.

On co-ed education at secondary level, the spokesman said that the MUT had received conflicting views from the school heads.

“Some insist there was an improvement, and others, sometimes in the same school, say there was a deterioration in academic performance.

“The situation in Malta is very complex, and we believe there are factors that are much more determinant in the academic success than just the presence of mixed sexes,” the spokesman added.

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