The Ombudsman has slammed the education authorities for allowing children aged between three and eight to wait outside the gates of a primary school without supervision, saying it was “highly irresponsible and unacceptable”.

Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Said Pullicino, the Ombudsman, criticised Education Ministry officials who backed the decision of the head of school at Mġarr’s primary not to open the gates before 8:30a.m., leaving the children who would have arrived early waiting outside unsupervised.

Leaving young children outside the gates of a primary school “is beckoning for a tragedy to happen at any moment and should no longer be tolerated”. Also, it would be “too late to remedy” in case of a “horrible accident”, Dr Said Pullicino said in a report.

The children waited for almost an entire scholastic year, during which different authorities argued among each other on who was to assume responsibility for the situation.

The Ombudsman started investigating the case last November after a group of worried parents from Manikata complained about the situation that developed after the teachers’ union instructed members not to open the main gate of the school before 8.30 a.m. in February 2010 as no supervision was available.

Parents were informed by the school head that children who used the transport service would not be allowed into the grounds even if their van brought them earlier. Some children were dropped off outside the gates at 7.55 a.m.

The Ombudsman criticised the authorities, saying it should be “obvious” that children should not be left unattended for any length of time because it would lead to “very serious accidents, if not tragedies”.

Six months after he started investigating, his office was informed that the education authorities were waiting for a reply from Transport Malta on the possibility of extending the period in which the road in front of the school was barred to traffic.

Seeing as there was no reply, the Ombudsman’s office contacted Transport Malta directly, only to find out that the proposal was turned down because it would “have strong repercussions on all schools” and that the extended times coincided with rush hour traffic, causing an even more chaotic situation.

Meanwhile, the children were left outside the gates for almost all the scholastic year despite an offer by the parents to supervise the children in the school grounds themselves during this time.

The Education Ministry defended itself with the Ombudsman on the basis that children’s supervision did not form part of the school transport service and pointed out that parents could make their own transport arrangements.

But the Ombudsman criticised this approach, saying that, since the authorities provided the transport, they were in duty bound to ensure that the children arrived safely.

The ministry’s suggestion to extend the times barring vehicles from the road was not “adequate or satisfactory”, Dr Said Pullicino said. However, he also slammed the Transport Malta for its insensitive attitude.

In general, Dr Said Pullicino said he was “struck” by the “negative approach” all the authorities had in shirking their responsibilities for looking after the children’s safety, pointing out that they were more interested in shifting the blame elsewhere.

Everyone, including the union, education authorities, the head of school and the minivan service provider were responsible for the children’s safety in various degrees and had to look for a solution.

The “issue of care and custody is” central to the parents’ complaint and the authorities had to “err on the side of caution” and “exert strict discipline” especially for the safety and well being of children, he said.

It soon became obvious that this problem was not limited only to Mġarr but to all government schools and, during his investigation, ministry officials admitted “the situation was untenable” and that, although there were financial implications, the overriding concern should always be the children’s safety.

The Ombudsman noted that the ministry made serious attempts to find solutions but progress appeared to be slow and indicated it would not be positive because of the extra cost of compensation.

He pointed out that such problems only existed in government schools and said he failed to see why these were treated differently and placed at an unnecessary risk and peril. He strongly recommended for a solution to be found by all stakeholders before the new scholastic year begun in a few weeks’ time.