Court shoots down St Albert College court warrant to stop union from issuing directives

Updated at 11:14am with court decision on prohibitory injunction

The court has rejected a warrant of prohibitory injunction by St Albert the Great College against the Malta Union of Teachers.

The decision was handed down on Monday in a decree by judge Joanne Vella Cuschieri.

“The arm-twisting attempt by the St Albert the Great Rector failed and the union shall continue to make the necessary pressures so that the college does not continue to be run with sheer incompetence,” the MUT said in a statement.

The union had received the warrant of prohibitory injunction from the rector of St Albert the Great College to stop the union from issuing more directives late last September.

MUT had declared a trade dispute in August against the Dominican Order and the Catholic Education Secretariat, which is the Maltese archdiocese’s education arm.

“The union is in communication with the Education Ministry and the Secretariat for Catholic Education to act firmly and to intervene to stop the haemorrhage of educators leaving the college due to the Rector attempting to dismantle all the work which has been carried out by the school,” the MUT said.

Popular head of school and ADPD politician Mario Mallia was fired from his post at the college by the Dominican Order earlier this summer.

Mallia was accused of “usurping the school property” for allowing the Electoral Commission to use the school as a polling station against payment for the school, in a bid to alleviate the hardship of elderly voters having to walk to Fort St Elmo, as well as for “aggravated insubordination” after insisting to have college staff represented on a new board that liaises with the Dominican province of Malta.

The decision saw a number of leading figures and academics slamming the decision on social media.

“The MUT reiterates that the Rector and College Board should resign or be removed from office since the current oppressive attitudes and leadership is having severe effects on teaching and learning and thus student entitlement to education. The college can only function if all educators including the remaining school management are allowed to operate,” the statement read.

St. Albert College parents call on Education Ministry to intervene

Parents and guardians of students at St. Albert the Great College have requested immediate intervention by Education Minister Clifton Grima to ensure at contingency plan announced by the Archbishop of Malta can come to affect.

In a letter sent to the Ministry for Education they explained that they are deeply concerned about the “crisis” the school is facing, and with the “negative repercussions” that are affecting their children.

“We know that just after a few days since the start of this scholastic year, the situation has rapidly deteriorated from bad to worse, despite the assurances that we have received from the college’s administration and now we are preoccupied about our children’s health, safety and well-being,” the letter read.

They said they only learnt from the media that nearly a quarter of the College’s staff members have resigned, and are worried that the students have already missed a considerably large number of hours from their learning.

 Indications show that these missed lessons shall increase in the coming weeks, with irreversible repercussions especially on those students soon to be sitting for their SEC exams, said the letter.

 Parents and guardians said they are “distraught” as students who need the most support in are the most disadvantaged in this situation. “We do not have a clear and transparent picture of the most important events happening in the college because of a lack of communication from the management of the school.”

 The letter concluded by reminding Minister Grima they have no guarantee that the situation will be solved soon enough “for our children’s own good due” to the lack of staff and serious planning by the college leadership.

 In light of this, they fear that in a few weeks, the situation can collapse totally to the detriment of their children.