A Żabbar primary school classroom has become unmanageable, with some pupils believing they cannot be disciplined, after their teacher received a warning for making a boy kneel down in the playground to be laughed at.

The six-year-old’s parents “are apparently, and separately, threatening the teacher, the school and the college with a media press conference”, the Malta Union of Teachers said in a notice published on its website over the weekend.

It described the whole situation as having become “untenable” and has instructed its members not to speak to the child’s parents.

The authority of the system has been undermined

Furthermore, if the situation does not resolve itself by tomorrow it will direct its members “to leave any classroom where the child in question is present”.

When contacted the parents “forcefully denied” the allegations made by the MUT saying this was “very far from the truth”.

They added that they were reserving the right to take further action in this regard and preferred not to comment at this stage, particularly in view of the fact that they had been assured by the competent authorities that the situation was being investigated. They were also assured the appropriate remedial measures would be taken against those responsible for safeguarding the child’s interests.

An Education Ministry spokes­man said the school had done everything possible to assist the boy and his parents after the incident. This included bringing in a counsellor, psychologist, learning support assistant and an anti-bullying team.

He said the teacher have never had any such problems and was competent at her job. She had made a mistake for which she apologised and had received a written warning.

The spokesman added that the school’s administration would remain open to communication to try to resolve the situation.

Two months ago Times of Malta reported the playground incident after it was raised by Nationalist Party MEP candidate Helga Ellul.

She had issued a statement saying that parents whose children attended the Żabbar primary had told her a boy was “made to kneel down in a yard, after which some other students were asked to look at the student and laugh at him”.

This had been done as a disciplinary measure.

After speaking to other parents to corroborate the story, she informed the Education Minister and called on him to investigate – which the ministry did immediately.

When contacted yesterday MUT president Kevin Bonello said since the incident the situation had deteriorated and the teacher was not being allowed to move on and do her job.

The situation was out of control, he said, as the teacher was dealing with a classroom that had about five children with behavioural problems.

The incident led to a situation where the boy felt the teacher could no longer discipline him.

Other children in the class had picked up this attitude – making the class unmanageable.

“The authority of the system has been undermined. This is untenable,” he said.

He added that the union had instructed teachers not to speak to the parents, unless it was an emergency.

The union also reserved the right to take “all the steps afforded to it by law” to safeguard its members.