Education Minister Evarist Bartolo has blamed school staff for allowing parents to enter a classroom before maintenance work was completed.
The minister was referring to complaints raised by parents – and reported by The Malta Independent – about the situation in a kindergarten classroom at the Santa Tereza college in Santa Venera. Both the Malta Union of Teachers and the Union of Professional Educators referred to the case in statements today.
In a post on Facebook – more than 24 hours after the story was published – Bartolo said that the complaints were “exaggerated”.
The work on the said classroom was planned, he said, for this weekend, before the kindergarten children started their scholastic year. It is, in fact, being carried out this weekend.
“What I cannot understand is how persons were allowed to enter this space when the work was not completed and why who was allowed in was not told what the plans were.”
In a statement issued by the Department of Information, the Education Ministry said maintenance work at the school was carried out during the summer and it will be completed before kindergarten children start their scholastic year.
Work on the classroom which was the subject of photographs on the social media is being carried out as planned.
The statement said that the college administration explained this to the parents, which contradicts the Facebook post which the minister uploaded a few hours before the DOI statement was issued.
