In a statement issued today, the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) has requested a “postponement of the physical reopening of all educational institutions including State, Church, independent, pre-compulsory, compulsory, post-secondary and tertiary.

“Health and safety for all concerned – educators, students, parents and all our families – is a priority throughout all this process and there are many issues with which the MUT is not happy at all. In fact, the implementation measures leave a lot to be desired and in many cases the way forward being proposed is impractical and cannot, in reality, be implemented effectively,” they said.

“The MUT is not satisfied that the implementation of measures proposed for schools will protect effectively the health and safety of all concerned. There are still too many unanswered questions by employers and the risk of having a spike in new COVID-19 cases with disastrous consequences as soon as schools reopen is real. As things stand, schools are simply not ready to reopen and solutions are lacking.”

MUT has unanimously voted on the below:

1. Request postponement of the physical reopening of all educational institutions including State, Church, independent, pre-compulsory, compulsory, post-secondary and tertiary. The MUT is hereby making the formal request to the Government;

2. Request certification of schools by competent authorities before it can accept students. Schools need to be certified as compliant with the respective protocol;

3. MUT is hereby limiting its position to the above measures but in view of the developing situation it shall be issuing further updates in the coming days.

“The MUT would also like to emphasise the fact that it is ultimately the employers’ responsibility to ensure the health and safety of their staff and their students. The Union’s role in all this is to make sure this is upheld. Despite this, the MUT has also proposed many other measures which are currently being discussed to seek solutions rather than just pointing out problems. All this is being done with the understanding that educators WANT to go back to school, but with the right measures and safeguards in place to protect everyone concerned. If not, the MUT does not exclude escalating measures accordingly,” the organisation concluded, thanking all educators for their support, saying it has taken note of all comments, queries and suggestions made.

Frank Portelli has also gave his two cents on the matter, saying, “rising figures & reopening of schools! A recipe for disaster.”