The new scholastic year started yesterday but Mġarr’s primary school remains without any supervisors to look after children who arrive early.

The parents of each child fulfilled the task until the school gates were opened, which happened at about 8.15 a.m., earlier than last year.

Last month, the school and the education authorities were the subject of strong criticism from the Ombudsman who said the school’s decision not to open its main gate before 8.30 a.m. was unreasonable and contrary to the rules of good administration.

The Ombudsman said 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”.

His comments came after a group of parents from Manikata last year complained that their children were being left outside unsupervised.

The school’s head yesterday said he had received instructions from the education authorities to open the gates at 7.45 a.m. as of today. However, he was unsure whether the Directorate for Educational Services would provide supervisors, even though a call was issued by the Directorate to retired teachers and civil servants last week.

A spokesman for the directorate said the call closed yesterday and applications received would be processed immediately. He added that during the first days of school, staff were invited to supervise students against payment but no one from the Mġarr school took up the offer.

The first schoolchildren arrived at the gate with their parents at around 7.50 a.m. By 8.10 a.m. several parents and children had gathered. Five minutes later the head came out to unlock the gates.

One of the parents waiting outside said she would much prefer if her children were in the school grounds rather than in the road, since according to her a police officer was not always present and could not be in several places at once.

To solve the problem of supervision some parents proposed devising a roster to take it in turns to look after the children themselves, but this had not worked out since most parents had other commitments. Another parent said the problem was exacerbated by people driving through the road where the children were waiting, despite the presence of a police officer and no entry signs.

“The ridiculous thing is that people from Mġarr know very well that there’s a school here, but some drive through anyway. This is the main issue for us,” she said.

She said parents had asked the local council to install barriers at both ends of the road, which could be closed while children were arriving at school, but as yet the council has not heeded their call.

Even if a barrier was installed, the parents said they would still not leave their children unsupervised outside.

“My children are in Year 6 but I still won’t leave them. Sometimes someone will bring a ball with them to play with, and we don’t want the children going into the fields.”

“At the end of the day, everyone – the school, the transport, and parents – has to carry some responsibility.”

Back to school

More than 27,400 pupils returned to school yesterday and no serious problems were reported by school heads across Malta and Gozo.

The only problems that were encountered were in transportation. There are 13,691 students in state schools who rely on transport provided by the Directorate for Education. About 100 trips take place every day to take the children to school and back home.

This year some of the operators who provide this service changed, which resulted in around 11 students not being picked up from home, according to a statement issued by the education authorities.