One cannot have a quality learning environment without basic hygiene facilities in schools. At a time when public finances are healthy, spending money to ensure that children have adequate sanitary facilities in all State and private schools seems to be a low priority.
Education has been the Cinderella of public policy for decades. Poor achievement levels, early school leaving, a frustrated workforce and a poor physical environment seem to be endemic problems in our school system. The government spending on education is above the EU average and, yet teachers’ representatives are often drawing the attention of the Ministry of Education to cases of apparent mismanagement or lack of adequate resources in most schools.
The Malta Union of Teachers argues that most schools would fail to meet minimum hygiene standards by law. This issue seems to fall below the radar of the education policymakers as the laws that define minimum standards for school hygiene are being ignored. The victims of this dereliction of duty are children who have no voice in the fora that can move public opinion to put pressure on the educational authorities to shake off their complacency and neglect in the care of schoolchildren.
Classrooms should provide a comfortable environment for children who spend about six hours a day trying to better their education. Physical space, clean toilet facilities, good quality drinking water, clean air free from dust, mould and bacteria, temperature control and adequate recreational and eating facilities are the bare minimum facilities every child needs at school.
We must even be more ambitious for our children by expecting regular medical and dental check-ups to ensure that the school environment complements the health care they get at home. Most educators are aware of the importance of hygiene in their classrooms. Some even help out by organising breakfast clubs for children and then cleaning desks and floors themselves because cleaning personnel are scarce.
The Education Ministry says it is providing training programmes to upgrade the skills required for cleaning and hygiene services for 300 staff members. This measure is hardly enough to resolve a fundamental problem that must be hampering the education of thousands of children.
Once there are sensible laws to ensure a clean environment in schools, the first move of policymakers and school administrators should be their strict enforcement. If human and financial resources are lacking, they need to be provided because the consequences of inadequate hygiene have a knock-on effect on the morale of both schoolchildren and also of their educators.
It is a sad reality that mediocrity seems to be the hallmark of the management of our educational system despite the not insignificant amount of financing of this sector by taxpayers. Parents should escalate their concerns about poor hygiene in the schools where their children are educated. They can use their teachers-parents associations or even go directly to heads of school and the Ministry of Education to bring about the change needed in this area. They have every right, indeed the duty, to do so.
If teachers’ unions, parents and civic-minded people insist that low hygiene standards should be unacceptable in our schools, then perhaps politicians will no longer take ordinary people for granted.
The mental and physical health of children also depends on a healthy school environment where hygiene is a top priority.
This is a Times of Malta print editorial