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After Maltese Teacher-Comedian Censored For Her Criticism, Union Urges Education Minister To Intervene   

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The Union of Professional Educators, Malta’s minority teachers’ union, has urged Education Minister Owen Bonnici to intervene after a teacher and stand-up comedian was censored for publishing a satirical video which criticised the working conditions at schools.

“[We] would like to express our full solidarity with Ms Sandra Gauci who, like us, is an educator and is also a member of the UPE,” the union said in a statement.

“The systematic censorship which Ms Gauci has been made to face in the past few days can only be seen as unacceptable by our union which believes that educators should have the right to think critically and express themselves freely about the educational system.”

“For a very long while the ministry has been trying to silence educators, but since 2018 the UPE has ensured that this right is safeguarded, by being the only Union which truly stands up against such injustices. We therefore call on the Minister of Education Hon. Dr. Owen Bonnici to forbid his officials from censoring educators in this manner.”

As a comedian, Gauci is best known for her satirical political content, which makes fun of politicians of all stripes. However, in a recent video, she also touched on a topic which hits close to him – the working conditions of teachers.

In particular, she criticised the way construction works at schools take place during school hours, the unhygienic conditions at certain schools and the absolute lack of respect shown by some students towards teachers.

Although Gauci didn’t mention any school by name, the school she works for, Kulleġġ San Ġorġ Preca, demanded that she remove the video on the grounds that she was “ridiculing the teaching profession, criticising the works that are currently underway in your school and making a number of false statements about your school”.

Despite this warning, Gauci has kept the video online.

Owen Bonnici has yet to comment on this case but throughout the minister’s political career, he has attempted to position himself as an anti-censorship campaigner, notably spearheading a law which decriminalised the vilification of religion during his tenure as Justice Minister.

READ NEXT: Maltese Comedian-Teacher: ‘I Was Censored By My School For Uploading A Video Critical Of Schools’

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]

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