In Swieqi, Paceville, St Julians, Sliema, San Ġwann, Msida and Buġibba, to name what appear to be the most seriously affected areas, many residents have been badly disturbed by rowdy, unruly English language students. The visitors often make a racket at unearthly hours, sometimes drunk or just intoxicated by the freedom of being away from their parents.

While most foreign students of whatever age seem to be well-behaved and respectful of local laws and sensitivities, it only takes a wayward, uncaring few to cause a headache. And there is no doubt they are a pain to a large swathe of long-suffering citizens whose pleas for something to be done are entirely justified.

The most obvious measure would be to have more police presence on the streets in the trouble spots, a solution that has long been pushed by the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations in Malta (Feltom). Bringing the situation under a modicum of control certainly entails more than two policemen occasionally going down to St George’s Bay to admonish revellers or arraign a couple of naked swimmers.

It is also reasonable to propose, however, that the people making a profit from English language teaching, primarily the schools, make a bigger contribution to the solution of the problem. One way is to ensure better supervision, at least for those under 18, who account for 40 per cent of a year’s influx of foreign students and, probably, a far higher percentage in the summer. Supervisors would need to be sufficient in number, well trained and of an authoritative age in relation to their wards to keep effective control. Some would have to work night shifts too, going by the countless reports of nocturnal mayhem. More police officers and/or security personnel may well be needed to keep the peace on the streets but the schools must be in a better position to lay down the law with teenage students who run amok in public places. And that can only be done with proper supervision.

Some of the onus is on the hotels whose rooms have been turned over to students for the duration of summer. If their guests are disturbing the neighbours, night after night, then they ought to employ security staff to see to it that this does not happen.

It goes without saying that host families must also keep the reins on their young guests.

Feltom claims that it is adult students, for whom supervision is inappropriate, who are largely to blame for the disturbances. One proposal in their regard may be to have “tourist police”, if not from the Police Force itself perhaps in the form of a new kind of warden service jointly funded by the government and the leisure industry. Given that Malta’s tourist population explodes in the summertime, it may be an idea whose time has come. The main function of this service, as in countries such as Greece, would be to assist tourists in numerous ways, ranging from providing directions to protecting them against scams. But keeping the peace in a firm but friendly manner, even to prevent tourists from getting into trouble with the law, could also fall within their remit if sufficiently empowered.

These or other measures might entail some extra outlay by the industry but it has a social responsibility to ease the public disturbance that its activity is causing.