An inquiry into how a young boy walked out of a Skolasajf centre in Fgura school and ended up in a busy street last August has blamed the lack of training of the SkolaSajf coordinator, an 18-year-old playworker responsible for the class and a 16-year-old assistant playworker in the same class.

The inquiry also found inadequate precautions in the school, where gates were kept open all the time.

The inquiry was held at the request of the Ministry of Education. It was chaired by Peter Cordina.

TIMELINE

The inquiry established that shortly before the 11am break the boy asked to go to the toilet.

At 11.30 he was seen on CCTV footage running out out the school’s main door and the gate.

At 11.10am a person took the boy to Fgura police station. The police traced his parents and and asked them to collect him.

At 11.59am the class playworker left  the school, looking for the child.

At 12.00 the SkolaSajf centre coordinator was informed by the playworker that the boy had gone to the toilet and not returned to class.

At 12.10p.m the coordinator phoned the Foundation for Educational Services (FES) and asked what she should to. She was told to phone the boy’s mother.

At 12.20 the coordinator phoned the mother, who told her to go to the police station.  The coordinator could not go because the other children were leaving the school at that time.

At 12,33p.m. the CEO of the foundation arrived  at the school.

At 12.45 the boy’s mother called at the school to say that the boy would not be going there any more.

The inquiry board said it had been told by the head of school that none of the regular teachers were involved in SkolaSajf.

Skolasajf was run by a coordinator appointed by the foundation.

It was also explained that the school gate was always kept open because the bell was always broken and the postman could not deliver mail. There was no one to monitor who was entering or leaving the school. The situation had existed for five years.

LACK OF STAFF TRAINING

Foundation officials told the inquiry board that  the main reason which led to this incident was the engagement of people who were not trained to work in SkolaSajf. While the staff were handed a contract which detailed their responsibilities, the responsibilities were not explained to all playworkers.

Mcast students who were engaged to work in SkolaSajf were never asked to attend information meetings as used to be the case for students engaged from the university.

BOARD’S CONCLUSIONS

The board said it had established that this incident could have been avoided had the proper security and surveillance procedures been in place.

It had resulted that on the day, there were only five children in the boy’s class.

It was significant that the playworker responsible for the class noticed that the boy was missing at about 11.30am – when he had been found in the street by a member of the public at 11.15. A reason for the discrepancy could be that the playworker was not wearing a watch.

“It is evident that the playworker lacked the experience and maturity needed to work with children, particularly children who were so young,” the board said.

It had resulted that the playworker had been previously warned by the mother that the child was ‘hyper’.

Some three weeks before this incident, the same boy had slipped away from the playworker while sitting near her at a cinema. without her noticing.

The board said it was clear that the SkolaSajf coordinator also lacked the managerial skills to manage the centre.

“It is evident that the Foundation for Educational Services was using workers who were not informed about their responsibilities and trained for them” the board said.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In its recommendations, the board said the school gate needed to be kept closed at all time. Indeed the flash-metal gate needed to be replaced by another made of wrought iron which would enable the school authorities to see who was behind it. Gates should feature an electronic security lock and should only be opened from inside. The gate to the school parking area also needed to be kept closed.

Furthermore, in a school such as this, with some 806 children during the normal school year, a person should be assigned to monitor who was coming and going.

The board also insisted on a complete revamp of how staff for SkolaSajf is recruited.

It noted that in the past, SkolaSajf was based on teachers and student-teachers who were trained and knew what was expected of them. But this was seriously lacking this year and SkolaSajf was run by people who lacked training, maturity and the fundamental experience needed by those who worked with children.

The coordinator needed to be a warranted teacher and the staff needed to be properly trained. There should  also be standard operating procedures.

For example, young children, in small groups, should always be accompanied by a playworker or an assistant playworker when they left the class to go to the toilet.

The report was tabled in Parliament by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo in reply to a question by Etienne Grech (PL).