The Malta Union of Teachers today denied that educators in a Kirkop Middle School told female students they were a “disappointment” and were “sexualising themselves” after they wore jeans during a casual day at school.

“The MUT condemns the attempts of some individuals on social media, and later on by an online site, to discredit the hard work being done by educators in St Benedict Middle School. The information that was given to the MUT directly from the educators of this school has absolutely nothing to do with that which was alleged anonymously from a student or parent and from a website,” they said.

Their comments come after multiple mothers complained that their daughters had been told they were provoking male students by wearing “tight jeans” during causal day. While the boys were allegedly allowed to go to class as they were, the girls were taken aside and told that “boys will be boys” and that they should stop sexualising themselves, according to a number of mothers.

One mother opened up about her daughter’s experience following the uproar on social media

“I am a mother of one of these girls and I was really disgusted and infuriated when my daughter told me what happened. All the developed world is working against this belief that it’s always the girls’ fault because boys cannot be provoked and boys will be boys and the school management team of my daughter’s school this morning proved that they still have a patriarch and old mentality. Really disappointed,” she said in a public post.

However, shortly after, a person close to the school took to social media to share her side of the story.

“Listen you should all shut up OK! You have absolutely no idea how that school treats children. In my opinion that school is a school which shows the children the beauty of life but they keep the kids in reality. Who ever wrote this post is a coward! She probably wrote this because her child got a yellow sheet. And do you know why the school acted this way? To show an act of discipline; nowadays some girls want to be treated as sexual objects by the way they dress, that’s why the school acted that way because some girls were dressed so not appropriate for school casual day OK? That is an amazing school and you all should not speak before you know the circumstances. The coward person should show her self. And the person who posted this did a bigger mistake for sharing this shame on you not the school you are all a disgrace. I can’t believe that people like you exist,” she said.

You can find the MUT’s full written statement below

The MUT condemns the sensationalism of the false news regarding the hard work being done in St Benedict Middle School

The MUT condemns the attempts of some individuals on social media, and later on by an online site, to discredit the hard work being done by educators in St Benedict Middle School. The information that was given to the MUT directly from the educators of this school has absolutely nothing to do with that which was alleged anonymously from a student or parent and from a website.

While the main scope of an educator is to educate during every activity, including during casual day, the way the educators enforced the rules, as happens in every school and in every other activity, was reported incorrectly.

This was done without the verification of information with the same school.

It is good to note that for educators, it would be easier that similar activities were not organised, however the educative value of these activities are well-proven.

The MUT invites those who contest that which happens inside schools to open a dialogue with educators instead of getting by with platforms which can cause great damage to the hard work that is being done and that shackles initiatives that occur time to time in schools.

And here is the account of what happened to the girls during casual day

Lovin Malta repeatedly attempted to contact St Benedict Middle School, the Education Department, and the Malta Union of Teachers for a verbal comment, but received no answer at the time of publishing

What do you think of this case?

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Johnathan Cilia

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]