The Malta Union of Teachers is insisting it was never contacted by the Ombudsman to discuss the decision by the Mġarr primary school in February last year not to open the main gate before school hours leaving children who arrived early unsupervised.

It was reacting to Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino’s report, which accused all the parties involved, including the MUT, of shirking their responsibility of looking after the children’s safety, calling the situation “highly irresponsible and unacceptable”.

Dr Said Pullicino had 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.

Children who arrived early were left outside the school gates for almost the whole of the scholastic year because the administration could not provide any supervision before 8.30 p.m. An offer by the parents to supervise the children themselves in the school grounds was not accepted.

“The MUT would like to make it clear it was never contacted by the office of the Ombudsman to discuss this issue and its position. The union... has always been proactive in finding solutions in the interests of all stakeholders as the Ombudsman rightly pointed out,” the union said. It added that, ultimately, administrative decisions were the prerogative of the authorities concerned, namely the Directorate for Education Services.

The union suggested that the Ombudsman did not know his remit when it came to trade unions. It did not elaborate.