The postponed Skola Sajf/Klabb 3-16 may open later this week, the Education Minister said yesterday as the teachers’ union described the organisation of the government’s summer school as “disastrous”.

An apologetic Evarist Bartolo said “significant progress” had been made in locating enough staff to cater for 10,800 children who were registered for the service.

It’s been a fiasco. There was no forward planning. They have no idea what it all involves

“All the centres in Gozo are catered for. There are some few other centres in Malta which we are currently looking into to ensure they have the adequate staff complement,” he said.

On Sunday evening, the Education Ministry announced the postponement of the summer school, which had been due to start yesterday, for a week over what it said was a possible strike by Skola Sajf workers because of staff shortfalls.

It said parents could have sent children to centres with striking staff and it was “unacceptable to have children not attended to.”

The Malta Union of Teachers insisted that it had never registered any dispute or ordered industrial action.

What it did was advise its members to send the children back home for their own safety at those centres where not enough staff were available to care for them.

“It’s a complete and utter disaster,” MUT president Kevin Bonello told Times of Malta.

“The carer-to-student ratio should be 1:15 maximum.

“We were going to have situations where ratios would have been 1:60 or 1:70.”

One particular centre was going to have one play worker to cater for 300 children.

Meanwhile, no learning support assistants had been assigned for children with a disability, he said.

“It’s absolutely horrible and not safe for the children.

“Remember that Skola Sajf is not a formal school setting but involves physical activities such as swimming, football and other fun outdoor activities.”

He said the Skola Sajf scheme had always worked smoothly in past years, coordinated by the Education Department.

This year, the coordination was in the hands of the Foundation for Educational Services (FES) “and it’s been a fiasco. There was no forward planning. They have no idea what it all involves.”

Last year, a coordinator (a warranted teacher) was assigned to each primary school where Skola Sajf was held.

However, this year a single coordinator was assigned to six or seven schools, he said.

Until last year, each school took on the responsibility of its students’ registrations.

This year this task was taken on by the FES.

“Consequently, heads of schools had no idea how many children they needed to cater for and whether there were any disabled children who required LSAs,” said Mr Bonello.

The union had been telling the ministry about the problems plaguing the organisation of Skola Sajf for more than three weeks.

Mr Bartolo apologised to all the parents who were waiting for Skola Sajf/Klabb 3-16 to open its doors.

He said the problem was that the FES kept insisting the situation was under control and that reports underlining shortcomings were an exaggeration.

The foundation insisted it had enough resources to deal with the work which, in the past, used to be undertaken by the managers of Skola Sajf, the minister said.

“Until the very last minute, the foundation kept saying that there were no problems and that everything was okay.

“By the time we realised that not everything was okay, it was too late. Our priority now is opening up this service as soon as possible.

“We will take all necessary steps to understand what happened and ensure that it is not repeated so that such a good initiative operates as it should.”

Lack of parental guidance

Thousands of parents were at their wits’ end yesterday after taking their children to Skola Sajf before dashing to work, only to be told that the service would begin the following week.

Others were informed via text message at 11pm the night before.

A number of parents took to the social media to vent their frustration: “Unbelievable! I just received an SMS telling me that tomorrow there won’t be any Klabb 3-16. Are they serious, just seven hours before opening doors? How will I sort out my kids while I am at work?”

­­­Another said: “Is this the way working parents are treated? I received an SMS at 11pm yesterday [Sunday] evening. Do you think this is the way to advise people about such an important matter? How can you promote that mothers should keep working when all this is happening?”

“Dear Minister, unfortunately the apologies are not enough. What shall we do with work? Shall we not attend to our work as we have no one to take care of our kids?”