It is “impossible” to have an entire classroom accompany one child to the bathroom – there are more practical ways of making sure that the children are not left unattended to, according to Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.
The minister was asked to comment on the reaction of Malta Union of Teachers president Kevin Bonello to recommendations drafted by a ministry legal consultant calling for students to be supervised at all times during school hours.
Mr Bonello interpreted this to mean that since classrooms only had one teacher, he or she would not be able to accompany students to the bathroom without abandoning the rest of the class – so the entire classroom would have to accompany the child.
“Kevin Bonello himself said that this was his interpretation,” Mr Bartolo said.
Children were supposed to be accompanied “but people find practical ways of handling the situation. You can’t keep taking the entire group to the bathroom – it’s impossible. What play workers do – and were already doing – is ask the [Skolasajf] coordinator to accompany the child herself.
“So the system was already working. There are practical ways of doing this,” Mr Bartolo said.
Last week, a three-year-old boy wandered out of the Fgura primary school, where he attended Skolasajf, and was found crying in the middle of Hompesch Road by a sales representative who was on his way to a nearby supermarket.
You can’t have a ship with two captains
Mr Bartolo told Times of Malta that the young child had already been to the bathroom twice before that day.
The most important thing, the minister stressed, was that all the school’s doors are firmly closed at all times.
“There are people who would tell you that it is dangerous to allow a three-year-old child to go to the bathroom all by himself because he might need to climb up some stairs to get there.
“But when we’re at home with young children, we might not have them under our eyes every single second but we do make sure that the main door is closed.
“What happened was unacceptable and it cannot happen again. That’s why it’s so important that the school’s main doors are closed.”
When it was pointed out that Times of Malta journalists were met with open gates and doors at the Fgura and San Ġwann primary schools on Thursday, the minister insisted that all the entrances to the school building were no longer open.
He said it was the job of the Skolasajf coordinators to periodically check and ensure that the main doorways were closed.
The problem, he continued, came down to a lack of coordination between the coordinators and other staff who work within the primary school throughout the scholastic year and were carrying out separate work in the school during the summer.
“This coordination is important so that you don’t have a Skolasajf member of staff who has to ensure that the door is closed while another person says that it’s OK to keep it open.
“You can’t have a ship with two captains.”