Too few students are studying to become teachers and Malta could end up with a number of classes without professional teachers, John Bencini, president of the Malta Union of Teachers, warned this afternoon.

"We have already started employing supply teachers, but this is not the solution," he said, adding that Malta might have to face a similar situation as in the 1980s when teachers who were not qualified were engaged.

"How can you have quality education when you don't have qualified teachers?" he asked at a press conference.

He said for the first time in history there were teachers who were seeking other jobs. The reasons, he said, were various. They were finding better opportunities and teaching was viewed as stressful, he said. Some of the older teachers, in particular, were desperate to get out because they are burnt out. Violence or disrespect to teachers were making the situation worse. He said another factor behind the drain was that classes in Malta had remained too big, with up to 30- pupils.

Mr Bencini said the union had long been "begging" the authorities to try and get teachers who had left the profession back in the classrooms, even with a reduced load since many women - which make up some 80 per cent of local teachers - do not want to go back to fulltime work .