Respect For Educators Goes Beyond Pay, Says ADPD – The Green Party

As the new scholastic year begins, ADPD – The Green Party has urged for stronger respect toward educators, stressing that recognition goes beyond salaries and must also include trust and freedom of expression.

At a press conference on Monday, Sandra Gauci, Party Chairperson, and Mario Mallia, Deputy Secretary General, said that while recent improvements to teacher salaries are welcome, respect cannot be reduced to financial compensation. True respect, they argued, also means allowing educators to voice their opinions without having to request permission.

The party criticised the Ministry of Education’s insistence on requiring educators to seek approval before making public comments, despite a ruling by the Ombudsman condemning the practice. ADPD described this as a form of “muzzling” that undermines critical thinking in education, likening it to colonial-era restrictions on free speech.

Citing its recently published document Green Over Greed – A Green Vision 2050, the party reiterated that critical thinking and freedom of expression are essential principles in education.

“The ADPD – The Green Party insists that if we truly believe in the need for our children and young people to be brought up as critical thinkers, you cannot have educators who can only share their own critical thinking after being granted permission to do so,” Gauci and Mallia said.

The party also criticised the Ministry for Education over a recent court case in which two immigrant children were initially denied access to education due to legal technicalities. ADPD insisted that no child should be excluded from learning and urged the government to uphold children’s fundamental rights.

The party concluded by thanking educators and wishing all students and staff a successful academic year.

#MaltaDaily

Photo Credit: ADPD – The Green Party