Migrants arriving in Malta risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean in rickety boats, often after spending months or even years in squalid Libyan detention centres.
They arrive on the island traumatised and disoriented, with little to no understanding of what Malta and Maltese culture are.
“So, as you can imagine, integrating these people in society is a tall order,” said Eileen Ariza, a US Fulbright Scholar and professor in the Florida Atlantic University Department of Education.
She has spent six months in the makeshift classrooms of the Marsa Open Centre, observing teachers and migrant students in Engish and Maltese foundation courses.
Although the courses are meant to promote integration and help migrants become part of Maltese society, what Dr Ariza found was that teachers had not been given the right training to deal with the specific problems migrants present in class. “Without the right training and skills, teachers just can’t be expected to overcome certain hurdles that these sorts of students normally bring.
This is no fault of the teachers, who I found were caring and dedicated to their job, but there doesn’t appear to be an adequate structure in place,” she…
