As students in state schools return to their desks for the 2021/22 scholastic year, chaos rules as a last-minute decision to fill in teacher shortage with peripatetic educators raises concerns. Thousands of children in primary remain in limbo as to whether or not they will receive the adequate education they deserve, as a shortage of 80 teachers in state primary schools was addressed by the Education Ministry over the weekend by assigning peripatetic teachers.
Such teachers usually commute between different schools and teach subjects ranging from PE to science to music to art. The teachers were expected to hand in schemes of work for their assigned students, which include Mathematics, English and Maltese in just a matter of days. The decision has raised dispute within the industry, with even the Teacher’s Union stating that they were not informed about such a situation.
This led to the Education Ministry filing a court of injunction against the Malta Union of Teachers and the Union of Professional Educators to stop any industrial action after the unions issued directives to these peripatetic teachers in question. The shortage has been largely caused by COVID-19 protocols which limit a 1.5m distance between student desks, resulting in split classrooms.
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