Teachers in State schools will for the first time be given a set of guidelines telling them what to do in cases of security breaches that may include assaults by students or parents.

We understand there are 106 State schools and we cannot have people with arms folded all day in every school

A working group will be set up between the Malta Union of Teachers and the Education Ministry to draw up these guidelines that will be handed out in schools within the next weeks, union president Kevin Bonello told The Sunday Times.

This was decided during a meeting – between the union, Education Minister Dolores Cristina and the two directors general of education – on Friday afternoon aimed at addressing the union’s concerns regarding lack of security in some schools.

During a press conference last week, Mr Bonello said that over the span of six working days there had been two reports of attacks in schools.

Some months ago, the union proposed solutions to the education authorities. These included installing a security guard in schools where there were over 300 students, a waiting area where parents can wait without wandering about the school, and guidelines for teachers and heads of schools.

“During yesterday’s (Friday’s) meeting we reached agreements on all three points,” he said.

The ministry, he said, would start visiting all State schools to identify where the waiting area could be built.

Some schools already had such an area, while others might set up a temporary structure that could be moved if the space was needed for other school activities.

As for security guard presence, he said, throughout this month ministry representatives would be meeting all school heads to identify which of the schools urgently needed this service.

The agreement was to have a trained person, not necessarily a security guard, who knew how to handle such situations.

“We understand there are 106 State schools and we cannot have people with arms folded all day in every school,” Mr Bonello said.

Asked what would happen after the election, he said that should the Nationalist Party be re-elected, the agreement would remain in force, while the Labour Party had already committed itself, through its electoral proposals, to work to have safer schools.

Last week the union launched an awareness campaign called Together Against Abuse to show teachers who suffered any form of abuse that they could find support through the union.