The government’s claim that only 3.5 per cent of Maltese teachers are being assigned more lessons than laid down in the collective agreement is an attempt by the education authorities to “minimise the issue”, Malta Union of Teachers head Marco Bonnici believes. 

“There is much more at stake than the number of educators mentioned and the way the ministry is trying to minimise the issue and making it seem like an anomaly is unfortunately regrettable,” Mr Bonnici told the Times of Malta yesterday. 

The union president made the comments after Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, during a press conference, appealed to the teachers’ union to drop its directives. 

The MUT has ordered teachers and heads of department of maths and Maltese to refrain from providing or correcting exam papers, saying members were over-worked, often assigned 25 lessons per week or more.  

Although, according to the minister, there were only 3.5 per cent Maltese teachers who were assigned the maximum case load, the union chief insisted the problem was even more widespread than the government made it out to be.  

“If the situation continues with the current predicament, the MUT can anticipate more teacher shortages even in other core subjects. Issues with English teachers are similar as are shortages of primary school teachers,” Mr Bonnici went on. 

The MUT can anticipate more teacher shortages even in other core subjects

During the press conference, a “worried” Mr Bartolo said he hoped the two sides would come to an agreement for the sake of “the common good”.  

“My appeal, for the common good, is for the MUT to reconsider its position because the number of teachers with such a load is a bit disproportionate,” Mr Bartolo said. 

Asked by the Times of Malta whether the government had a back-up plan in case the union did not change its position and in light of the fact that the exam period was now only days away, the minister said the focus at the moment would be to “resolve the issue”. 

Parents who spoke to the Times of Malta last month said they were not being provided with much information, only finding out about the situation at the last minute when they were helping their children with revision. 

Mr Bartolo would not comment on whether the government was considering providing students with exam papers put together by the Education Department, as was the case in February during the half-yearly exams. He admitted, however, that he was not satisfied with what had happened in February and the papers provided to the students then.

On this, the union yesterday accused the ministry of trying to circumvent its directives by cobbling together exam papers as it did for the half-yearly exams, when pupils ended up with past papers and questions which were not on their syllabus.

It said it had also learned that the ministry was trying to acquire Maltese and maths exam papers from Church schools through the Curia.

Such actions were unbecoming of the ministry, more so since the way subjects were taught in Church schools was different from State schools, the union iterated.

The Malta Union of Teachers is set to meet the Education Ministry today to further discuss the matter. 

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