Children’s commissioner concerned over situation at St Albert College

The Children’s Commissioner has weighed in on the dispute at St Albert College, urging all parties to resolve their differences in the best interest of children.

The scholastic year is expected to start on Monday and the school is unprepared to receive children in the wake of an ongoing dispute with the Malta Union of Teachers.

“The Office of the Commissioner for Children is concerned about the situation at Saint Albert the Great College,” the commissioner said in a statement on Friday. “The uncertainty that children are currently facing is not in their best interest.”

The college rector is locked in an ongoing dispute with the MUT after the school’s former headmaster Mario Mallia was dismissed. The school insisted Mallia’s removal was a result of “insubordination” but teachers and other school administrators have insisted the dismissal was a result of Mallia’s inclusive philosophy that ruffled feathers.

The MUT took the matter to the industrial tribunal and has expressed mistrust in the college rector, Dominican priest Aaron Zahra.

The Children’s Commissioner said that after two years of disruption caused by COVID-19, children should not be put in such a situation.

“This is causing great stress and anxiety amongst children and parents. Children have a right to start a new scholastic year in a serene and welcoming environment,” the commissioner said, urging all parties to find “an immediate solution”.

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