Parents of students who attend state schools should form an association to ensure they have a say on issues such as school uniforms, transport and the curriculum, according to the teachers’ union.

Concerned parents regularly turned to the Malta Union of Teachers to complain about several school-related issues and the union offered them direction, the union’s new president Kevin Bonello said yesterday.

However, he said, the union was there to represent teachers and it was important parents joined forces and set up an association to ensure their interests and those of their children were safeguarded.

The government, he added, ought to take the initiative to ensure this association was born.

Speaking during a press conference at the MUT offices in Valletta, Mr Bonello said the lack of a parents’ association lead to situations where, as happened this week, school uniforms were only made available on the eve of the first day of school.

Yorkie Clothing, which was awarded the tender for state school uniforms, only made the uniforms available to parents last weekend. The retailer blamed the delay on shipping delays, disorganised parents and an inordinate number of overweight children.

Last month the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority criticised the current school uniform system, saying it left parents “in a very vulnerable position”, forcing them to buy uniform items from exclusive suppliers.

But an Education Ministry spokesman dismissed the authority’s claims, saying there was no exclusivity in the school uniforms tendering process.

Yesterday, Mr Bonello said a parents’ association would also address issues such as school transport delays and the supervision of schoolchildren who were dropped off before official opening hours. Other issues that concerned parents included the national curriculum and the national e-learning strategy that assumed that all students had computers and internet access at home.

Speaking about the supervision in government schools before official opening hours, Mr Bonello said the union agreed with the manner the government was handling the issue by launching a call for applications for supervisors.

During a recent meeting between the MUT and the government, the union was assured that school heads and teachers would only be deemed responsible for students during the official hours. Supervisors (that are still not in place) will be responsible before that, he said.

Mr Bonello also spoke about the need for better cooperation among trade unions, better coordination among various schools and the need to improve the research capacity at the University of Malta.