Talks between the Malta Union for Teachers (MUT) and Education Authorities have failed, just days before schools are set to start the new scholastic year.

In a statement, MUT shared that the ministry is “implementing measures in schools that weren’t previously discussed,” such as measures related to vulnerable educators, school supervision and the drawing up of timetables in secondary school. MUT have also said that the Ministry is also “ignoring” the “hundreds” of questions that have yet to be answered regarding health and safety.

"It is evident that the implementation of health and safety measures and the curricular aspect is being carried out without any consideration or thought and this means that the health and safety of educators, students and families is being compromised," MUT said.

"This has led to a lot of uncertainty in the sector and it is becoming clearer that preparations started too late and the authorities are now in a state of absolute panic," the union said. 

Just last week, the MUT requested to postpone the reopening of schools across the board after unsatisfactory proposed measures. 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,” the union said at the time.

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