Withdrawing a controversial education bill at the heart of a dispute with teachers was no admission of failure but rather a sign of government’s “humility” and non-confrontational attitude, the Prime Minister said on Sunday morning.

“We stand by what we said about the intentions and consultation of this Bill, but we also believe that the Malta Union of Teachers was genuine in its concerns,” Joseph Muscat said when addressing a political activity in Żejtun.

Dr Muscat was speaking a day after the MUT called off a strike scheduled for Monday. Educators were protesting a plan to make teachers’ warrants no longer be permanent but instead renewed according to continuous assessment.

Teachers argue that no such provision exists for other professionals, and have expressed deep concern that the changes could lead to the suspension of their warrant. The government denies such claims.

In his address, the Prime Minister said that the MUT’s reaction took government by surprise, but that it had nonetheless decided to withdraw the Bill as it did not want to escalate the situation.

While insisting that from a legal perspective the ministry could have gone to court over the matter, Dr Muscat said that government’s attitude was to sit down and have talks.

Rather than withdraw parts of it, we decided to scrap it entirely, he added.

On the other hand, Dr Muscat lashed out at the Opposition, saying it seemed as if the latter was rubbing its hands in glee and trying to fuel further discord, he said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that this government had given educators, “what had been denied to them by previous administrations”, through a new collective agreement which, he said, was a huge step forward.

“I look forward for meaningful discussions with MUT to reach agreement,” Dr Muscat said while noting that there were no large differences between the two sides.

“Our big strength is humility, and that we are always ready to debate,” the Prime Minister remarked.

In his address Dr Muscat called for more respect to educators while condemning those who had used social media to foment hate speech against teachers. His call was echoed by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, who also address the activity.

Aquarium report

Touching on other issues, the Prime Minister referred to the Auditor General’s findings about the National Aquarium in Qawra. The report exposed the Opposition’s lack of credibility, he said.

While the PN was mounting a campaign against the sale of a plot of land by saying it had been given to a private investor for a pittance, it transpired that the aquarium site had been handed over for free, Dr Muscat said.

The Prime Minister rounded off his speech by cautioning against complacency in next year’s European Parliament and local council elections.

He warned that despite opinion polls showing that the Labour Party enjoyed a strong lead, mid-term elections would nonetheless be an uphill struggle for the party in government.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.