In between the metronome’s monotone ticks and the odd wrong note, students at the Johann Strauss School of Music, Valletta, have to contend with a putrid smell wafting into their classroom from two skips placed directly outside.

The skips, which do not belong to the school, have been there for the past 12 years and teachers’ complaints to the Valletta council have not reaped results. While in the past, teachers had the option of leaving the windows closed, this is no longer possible due to the Education Ministry’s swine flu directives.

Moreover, teachers at the school explained, when the garbage truck came to empty the skips at around 4 p.m., the smell worsened, only this time they had the added noise, which was far from ideal for an establishment focused on teaching music.

There are graver implications to having skips outside this building.

“One time, one of the skips broke loose and started rolling down the road; thankfully it was empty, and we were there to stop it. But what if an eight-year-old pupil was passing by and was run over by a heavy skip?” a piano teacher recounted.

When contacted, Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli said the council had plans to relocate these skips but due to the concentration of people living in the area it would not be possible to move them very far from their present spot. Otherwise people would be dumping their rubbish outside.

“While I do understand the school’s problems, moving the skips is quite problematic – after all, no one wants a skip outside their front door,” he said in a resigned voice.